Doodle Champion Island Journeys!

16. (Fragments of the Night)

Waters of the South Port rocked the boat like a cradle. Symphony was fast asleep. He was a boatman, after all, who specialized in transporting individuals and couples on extended trips where he would often have to wait overnight for the returning sail, so he was so well used to sleeping out like this. For Lucky, however, this was the longest and farthest she had been from home, and couldn't find sleep yet despite being exhausted from the match. Curiosity, it might be. Maybe excitement. Make it both. Her amber eyes relaxed as she traced the shapes of constellations.

The fabric of sky zoomed wide and far, on the vast ocean without anything in its stretch. Where the sky met the sea, a strange halo seemed to be flickering from a different plane of existence, alluringly yet so distant that any pursuit would give up to an easier target at hand, something else that was reachable regardless. The stars were shining as always, on a night sky lightened by the festival lamplights that they lost their twinkles. Nonetheless, they were much, much closer, that she thought she could just outstretch her arm and harvest one from the universe. It was late September, Lucky didn't remember which constellation would be up there, perhaps Bells or Sun, her older brother, would know. As for her, she just connected random sparks with her eyes, imagining wings of doves and hooves of antelopes - the creatures of endless voyages and freedom - and exotic trees and random shapes that just didn't make sense.

You know... memories worked the best when the mind was at peace. Nostalgia only kicked in once the stream of life come to the plains where it just flowed slowly without any sudden turns. When you were experiencing something, as much as you wanted to treasure it, you wouldn't be able to do so at the fullest, for any creatures would always be caught up in a split moment that diverted their heart elsewhere. Sometimes - no, most of the time, enjoyment came not with a clear image of memory, a half-solid treasure of mind, but rather an inexplicable vague sensation. Not only enjoyment and happiness in general, but so were other kinds of memories: sad ones, grief, humiliation, even ones that didn't come with a specific emotion at all. When you were surrounded by familiarities, everything that took place might seem so normal, as if bound to happen, but upon a gaze to the horizon clear from blocks of residence, feelings would come rushing in. Detached from the environment one was so accustomed to, they would have a more significant sense of...reminiscence.

Maneki Lucky was never a regular girl in the first place. It wasn't rare for female felines to have calico coat, but what differenciated her from others was her personality. She used to, well, almost, pick up a fight with a guy over a daycare play back then as she didn't want to play princess just to be rescued by any prince charming. She wanted to be a hero too, or at least be the kind of princess to yeet her dress out the window and fight her way out herself. Her caretaker wasn't fond of the idea, and so were the boys. Lucky was a cute girl, but she was also brave and independent. That set her into quite a lot of trouble for roles in school plays, as she couldn't stand faking herself as an all-so-graceful belle, but she also didn't fit playing a hero for her young feminine voice. It left her with minor, sometimes unsettling roles like a talking tree or something. In other words, although she appeared like a fluffball full of innocence and a carefree attitude, she had been restraining herself, for she had no reason to make a scene.

The Halloween game disk that Maneki Bells brought back actually changed her course of life. It's weird to be grateful for a game character, huh? But Lucky's young mind translated the game as: there was nothing wrong to show your true power. As for the rest... you know it - long days and nights of library searches for magic, tombs of shinobi secrets found in the basement of the local library, painful sessions of honing her skills, drained numb limbs yet with an overjoyed smile when she finally discovered what would be closest to miracles... It was like a dream. The cat breathed out, she didn't know what else to think.