Episode 1: Chapter 3 - A Long Awaited Moment
It was a beautiful day. The days were getting warmer and the first flowers were breaking through the soil.
It had been a normal day for Alice and having finished her lessons for today she was now walking down the road
that would eventually lead to her favourite comic store.
As she turned around the last corner Alice suddenly felt a shiver crawling all over her body.
It was the kind of feeling she had when listening to strong and emotional lyrics or when watching an intense scene in a movie,
only this time she couldn't explain where it was coming from. For a moment she just stood still and listened to the voices in her head.
They were not speaking with words - they never did - but they were telling her that everything was ok.
People were leading their lives not knowing of the dangers that lay ahead.
Alice could feel the presence of her dear friend as she had done all day.
It was stronger than she had known it before and she wondered what was different.
But she knew that this was no question that she could answer all by herself and so she carried on walking
towards the yellow signs that were drawing her attention back to that little comic store.
As she opened the door she heard that familiar sound of the little doorbells ringing.
She entered and immediately noticed that everything had been moved around.
The shelves had been moved closer together and the place just looked smaller now.
"What happened?" she asked the guy behind the counter.
He was a little younger than her and she knew that he worked here regularly. She had never asked for his name though.
"Dunno." he replied shrugging his shoulders.
She wasn't going to bother asking any further and walked in passed the counter.
There were several people in this little store - mostly students -
and a couple of times the newly arranged walkways between the shelves got a little tight.
But she made her way straight to the shelf labelled "latest releases" and started looking for the Sailor-V manga.
Things on the shelf had been rearranged too so she didn't find it at first but there it was!
Bright yellow letters on blue background. Sailor-V looked as gorgeous as ever!
But just as Alice was reaching over to grab it another girl had taken it revealing the wall behind it.
It was the last copy.
A little black curly strand that was falling into the girls face caught her attention but
Alice forced herself to look back into the girl's eyes. "Do you mind?" she asked. "I really need that!"
The girl looked at her with her deep blue eyes as if she was looking right into her soul and Alice felt uncomfortable. "What?"
"Why would you want it more than me?" the girl replied patiently.
Urgh, she hated people like that, thinking that they knew everything better than her.
But she really needed this comic so she forced herself to remain calm. Besides, this girl made her curious.
"Please," she started, "I have been waiting for this issue for a long time!"
"So have I!" the girl replied with a little smile as if she wanted to tease her.
That was enough! For a moment Alice stood in that little walkway between the shelves with this girl - who was
obviously several years younger than herself - and she didn't know what to say! She knew that the girl was right.
But she needed this manga and so she reached over to those slim hands and having much more
strength in her own hands and the surprise on her side she took it off the girl easily.
As Alice saw the surprise in the girl's eyes she wondered why she wasn't saying anything.
She felt the sudden urge to grab the girl's hands and without any thought she dropped the manga onto the floor.
What was happening? What was she doing? She needed this manga! She should just take it, buy it and leave. But she didn't.
Slowly she moved her hands towards the girl and held them in front of her with her palms up. Then she waited.
That shiver came back crawling all over her body.
The girl was still staring at her with interest.
The confusion in her eyes was replaced by peace and Alice thought that she looked wise.
Her hands moved towards her own and the moment they touched Alice felt overwhelmed by the amount of feelings that were entering her mind.
She felt pain and sadness, hope and regret, but above all she felt love and devotion.
They withdrew their hands and backed off as far as their surroundings would let them.
Then Alice felt all her strength fail and fell to her knees. She was exhausted but she looked up at the girl, who was still standing in front of her.
She didn't seem quite as surprised as herself.
After a while they began to smile.
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