Chiyo marvelled. In a single instant, the curse's influence had completely vanished from her mind.
The ability to think whatever she wanted had never struck Chiyo as amazing before, but now- now that she had had that horrible… thing controlling her!
She realized was still keeping herself completely still, and hadn't been paying attention to the others.
"Hikari? I'm okay now, you can…" she trailed off as her memories of the past few hours replayed in her mind, this time without insanity acting as a helpful buffer. They weren't pleasant.
"Oh- Hikari, Hiroko, I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry I said those things! I'm sorry I thought those things!" Chiyo's vision when watery and she began to feel tears sliding down her cheek.
"Of course, Satsuki-sama."
Hiroko watched her friend cry for a moment, then tucked the grief seed away and tightly embraced her friend. "You weren't yourself, it's okay... You didn't want to say all that stuff..."
She simply held Chiyo, unaware of how much she was shaking. Hiroko wasn't focused on it, but the experience had freaked her out, too.
edited 3rd Mar '11 7:35:51 AM by AnnoR
"Oh, dear. The toad, the monkey, and the dog have all screwed up."
Hikari moved one arm from Chiyo to bring Hiroko into her embrace. She couldn't think of anything to say to such an experience.
Chiyo accepted her friends' embrace, letting them support her. She listened to Hiroko's reassurances, and nodded to them, but-
But this was most horrible thing about the whole experience. Even now, she simply wasn't sure how much of it had been the witch and how much had been her. How much control had the witch really had over her? Had it really planted thoughts inside her head, or had it simply twisted what was already there to its own ends? Chiyo had no idea.
Doesn't matter, she thought, reassuring herself. It didn't matter if they had really been her thoughts, because those thoughts had been wrong. There was still lots more to discover in this world, what had happened today was proof of that. So it didn't matter.
Her mouth turned upwards into a half-smile, despite the tears that were still coming. "Thank you. Thank you both," she said quietly.
"Of course, Satsuki-sama."
"You're welcome. And... And you'll never have to worry about that again," Hiroko replied. Her expression became confident once more, though she was still trembling a little. "I'm a magical girl now. I'll defend you, all of you, from the witches. You'll never have to worry about it happening again."
The black-haired girl had the uptmost confidence in herself, now, and her expression reflected this. After a few moments, she looked to Kyubey, who was presumably still on her shoulder.
"So, Kyubey... How do I use the grief seed?"
edited 3rd Mar '11 5:19:23 PM by AnnoR
"Oh, dear. The toad, the monkey, and the dog have all screwed up."
"It's very easy. If you take our your Soul Gem you might notice it got a little more dim with the fight. All you have to do is hold the Grief Seed close to your Soul Gem and it will cleanse it in no time!" Kyubey said excitedly.
Not long after that, however, the bell signaling the end of lunch time rang, alerting all students to hurry up back to class.
"Of course, Satsuki-sama."
Still in her magical girl form, Hiroko reached up and took off her hair band. She saw that her soul gem was indeed dimmer, and took out the grief seed. After a few moments, the soul gem was brighter, and the grief seed was... depleted or whatever.
Hiroko stood up, flashed a quick smile to her friends, and reverted to her school uniform before hurrying downstairs to class.
"Oh, dear. The toad, the monkey, and the dog have all screwed up."
Hikari looked at Chiyo. "Should I take you to the nurse's office? I'd probably want to lie down if I had been possessed by something like that..."
"Of course, Satsuki-sama."
Hiroko reflected that maybe she should've stayed with her friends... but now that they were safe, she was sure that they'd be okay.
Hikari-chan will probably take Chiyo to the nurse's office... she thought, still smiling. She entered class, recalling that Kagawa-sensei should be more interesting now. That should be... well, fun.
"Oh, dear. The toad, the monkey, and the dog have all screwed up."
Chiyo wiped away her tears. "Um… yeah, we should probably go to the Nurse's office."
She felt vaguely disappointed she wasn't going to get to see the results of Hiroko's wish, but the new Kagawa-sensei would still be there tomorrow- assuming this wish stuff really worked- and the larger part of her felt the need to lie down somewhere and get her mind back into working condition.
Hikari held her friend's hand as she led her to the nurse's office.
"Do you want me to stay with you?"
Hiroko found the classroom just as she remembered it... well except for one thing. It was about time for Kagawa-sensei to show up and people instead of looking worried and unenthusiastic, they all seemed mildly excited about it.
As the last bell rang and all the students settled down on their seats a subtle noise of hurried steps could be heard nearing the classroom.
"I'm sorry, class. I kind of lost track of time at break" A clear female voice said as an extremely pretty woman that Hiroko had never seen before entered the room. She had light brown hair, it's length a little past her shoulders though she wore it up at the moment. Her youthful green eyes were clearly visible behind a pair of small but stylish glasses. She was just slightly on tall side as her height went, with a great figure and a definitely warm presence.
"Right, right, my bad. Now everyone please settle down" The woman said as she walked over to her desk to leave her things.
"Of course, Satsuki-sama."
Hiroko blinked for a moment. So... that's what had happened when she said more interesting? Well, Kagawa-sensei certainly doesn't look like a deranged ant anymore!
She quickly sat down, anticipating what the rest of class would be like. This was going to be knew, and different. Frankly, Hiroko was a little excited about seeing how her wish had turned out. This excitment was clearly visible on her face, and the way she watched Kagawa-sensei now.
"Oh, dear. The toad, the monkey, and the dog have all screwed up."
Chiyo shook her head. "I think just need some time to sort through my thoughts, I'll probably be alright on my own. Why don't you go and see how Hiroko's wish turned out?"
edited 3rd Mar '11 8:35:46 PM by Gilphon
—Tsukasa Suoh—
...the hell? he thought. The strange feelings he had felt at lunch were gone, but were replaced with confusion at the replacement of his teacher. He raised his hand.
"Hmm? Tsukasa-kun? Do you have a question before class starts?" The woman asked, her very expressive face reflecting confusion and curiosity at this event as she finished leaving her things kind of neatly in the desk. The female teacher straightened up her skirt and fixed her glasses as she leaned on the desk.
"Of course, Satsuki-sama."
Hiroko watched intently. Already, Kagawa-sensei was better then he... well, she, had ever been! Things were going so well for her now. First an entire new world opens up for her, she gets to be a magical girl, and now her teacher is better.
"Oh, dear. The toad, the monkey, and the dog have all screwed up."
"What happened to Kagawa-sensei?"
"Well, I rather not tell what happened to make me slightly late..." The woman, which now most of the class regarded as Kagawa-sensei... though some daring students called her Kagawa-chan, said as she turned her back on the class to pick up her marker and a book "...though of course it didn't have anything to do with driving in a hurry to get a dessert from that wonderful patisserie near the train station..."
edited 3rd Mar '11 9:28:05 PM by daltar
Suoh was utterly confused by what was going on, and couldn't understand why one of the best teachers he ever had was replaced with this person.
edited 3rd Mar '11 9:06:42 PM by Funnyguts
"Of course, Satsuki-sama."
Hiroko just smiled. This was so, so much better then that wizened, ancient, ant-like man that used to be Kagawa-sensei. She's so much better! It's amazing!
"Oh, dear. The toad, the monkey, and the dog have all screwed up."
"Well if that's settled then lets begin the class, ne?" Kagawa-sensei said with a bright smile on her face before, turning around to write on the white board.
And so, her history lessons started. While there were a lot of changes a few things remained the same about Kagawa-sensei. One of those was her deep knowledge of the subject. Far more than someone so young should have. However, now instead of spitting out facts, names and places, Kagawa-sensei seemed a lot more into the teaching.
Her enthusiasm about past events was contagious and she seemed to have gained a great deal of imagination as in no time the young teacher seemed to lose herself in a tale of the past and in the scenery of the time period she lovingly recreated for her students.
Time flew by and before most of the class realized it, the class was over and the bell rang. The white board was filled up with images instead of just names and dates and the faithful marker in Kagawa's hand had more than once used to represent the sword of brave individuals of the past.
"Uh... seems like our time today is over. Right then everyone, please remember to read the introduction for next chapter on your books for our next class. If anyone has any doubts about the class you know where to find me" The teacher concluded with another bright smile.
"Of course, Satsuki-sama."
Hiroko smiled right back at Kagawa-sensei. Her wish had paid off. It had all worked out. This was quite possibly one of the greatest days in her like. She'd saved her friends, her teacher was better, she was a magical girl now... it was wonderful.
"Oh, dear. The toad, the monkey, and the dog have all screwed up."
nagisad
Andrea could really only gape. This, more than anything else, was proof of just how ridiculous the entire charade really was. She waved at Hiroko, mouthed:
"What the hell have you done?"
Kitkat Kitkat / He's our man / If any one screws up / He sure can -Imca
"Witch's... Egg?" Hiroko turned just in time to see Andrea leaving, heading down the stairs before she could even say much of anything. The sudden weight on her shoulder startled her for a moment, but she relaxed and smiled a little weakly when she saw it was only Kyubey.
That thought stopped her a moment. Only Kyubey? Well, I guess the telepathic cat weasel rabbit is a lot more commonplace then the bookcase monster or the paper lotus monsters.
"Well... I better take it, then," Hiroko said, gloriously stating the obvious as she bent down to retrieve the strange, spikey object. She held it out in front of her, looking at it curiously. "Hey, Hikari, it'll be okay. I'm pretty sure everything's fine now."
edited 2nd Mar '11 7:58:31 PM by AnnoR
"Oh, dear. The toad, the monkey, and the dog have all screwed up."