I went to my parents’ grave. I didn’t know if I’d get a second chance to do so.
Makoto has something she wants her parents to know.
Word Count: 559
This scene has been at the back of my mind for ages, and I finally got it out. I hope you enjoy.
“Hi mom. Hi Dad.” She puts the picture she keeps in her wallet in the grass between her gravestones. The creases are too deep to unfold completely anymore, but that’s okay. The two crinkly white lines converge on her nine-year-old face so that if she doesn’t look closely, it’s like it’s just the two of them. It’s more like she’s really talking to them if she can’t see herself. “I’m sorry I haven’t visited for awhile. I’ve been busy.” Her fingers pull her skirt along her thighs. “I… I’m actually a soldier of justice. A magical girl like in the stories you used to read me.” She takes a deep breath. She aches to know their reaction. None of the others have told their parents, but surely, surely hers would have been understanding enough to know. “You always told me to be strong, Daddy, and I am. I’m strong enough to fight monsters and pull lightning down from the skies. But I worry that’s not eno…”
She shakes her head. “That’s not what I wanted to talk to you about. I want to make sure you know about my friends.” Another picture comes out, a photo strip with an English phrase written across the top. Minako said it meant “hot babes,” but Ami said it meant “friends forever.” Their five faces crowd into each panel. “That one’s Rei. When you’d first meet her, Mama, you’d purse your lips and say, ‘Well, she’s an interesting girl.’ She comes off as a little brash at first, but once you get to know her, you see she’s really got a big heart. You might know her mom. She’s somewhere up there with you.
“And Daddy, Minako would make you laugh. Everything she does is like a performance, even fighting. She’ll be famous someday. She sort of already is. Before any of us found each other, she fought alone…” She shakes her head again. “You’d both love Ami. She’s a genius who gets top scores on all the exams, but she’s the most sweet and modest person you can imagine. She says she’s going to make sure we all get into high school. If you knew us all, you’d know how hard a goal that is.”
She points to the final girl in the pictures, the one who only managed to get her full face into the frame in the last shot. “And that’s Usagi. She’s… she’s the one who found me first. We’re a perfect pair, really, she eats anything I cook and says it’s the best I’ve ever made. A little like you guys used to. We’re supposed to take care of her, but I think maybe she actually takes care of us. But that’s why…” Her fists ball around her skirt. “That’s why we’re going without her. They have Ami, and…”
She shakes her head again and smiles through her watery eyes. “I wish you could meet them so badly, but I don’t want any of them to meet you anytime soon. So I’m going to fight. And we’re going to win.” She carefully folds the pictures back into her wallet. “I just wanted you to know.” One drop of water hits the grass as she stands up. “And I love you.”