Starlight Dream

Chapter 7

"Okay, what should we watch first?" Seina's friend, Aiko, placed a collection of DVDs on the bed.

Takako sat in her pajamas on the other side of the bed they shared, arms crossed. She wondered how Seina even convinced her into participating in this ridiculous slumber party. Her eyes scanned the room, noticing the enormous stuffed animal collection her enemy had accumulated. Many were in rough shape, but Seina had put considerable effort into restoring them. Some were even of her own creation. While crude, the girl constructed them with a considerable amount of love. Takako spotted a sewing machine sitting in the corner.

"Let's see." Seina's eyes scanned the random assortment of titles. Some were anime. While others were foreign films translated into Japanese. Seina's eyes avoided anything that was horror-based, which Takako noted for later.

After scanning the titles twice, Seina nodded, picking one from the pile. "This looks super cute!" It showed a young girl with an umbrella standing next to a weird giant cat thing.

"No way! What's with your obsession with cute things? How childish." Takako said, unable to withhold her opinion any further. She picked a different title from the pile. It showed a picture of two scary-looking monsters fighting each other.

"What's wrong with liking cute things?" Seina puffed out her chest.

Takako only rolled her eyes at such a childish opinion, but Colten, Seina's fairy partner, looked thoughtful. "I suppose that isn't surprising considering your past."

"Her past?" Takako replied, blinking in confusion.

Seina's expression turned painful. "Yeah, the vampire running my group enjoyed making our lives miserable, destroying anything he considered cute or beautiful. He once had me whipped for making a doll."

"What?" Takako's breath caught in her throat, unable to believe what she'd just heard.

"Yeah, ten lashes," Seina replied, nodding. "It hurt so much I couldn't sleep for days."

Takako gaped at the girl, unable to push such a horrible image out of her mind. That's what the ex-vampire lords did to people?

Her magical girl rival's expressions quickly shifted into a forced smile. "But that's ancient history! We've beaten the vampires for good! Besides, I actually got off easy. He could have executed me." Seina said with shocking casualness.

Aiko smirked. "The poor idiot. He doomed his entire species!" Seina, Colten, and Aiko shared a laugh about this.

"The taskmaster of my group was a real jerk, too. He enjoyed randomly depriving us of food rations. We wondered every day whether we'd even get fed." Aiko looked towards Takako, studying her. "I'm surprised this shocks you so much. It was pretty standard from what I understand. Did you have a nicer taskmaster or something, Maeko?"

"No! Mine was a real jerk as well!" Takako said a bit too quickly. "I'd rather not talk about it. It wasn't great." Much to Takako's relief, the two girls nodded. They didn't press their new friend further on her fake history.

"I understand," Seina replied, putting a comforting hand on Takako's own. "But if you ever want to talk about it, we're here. I find speaking about it helps."

Takako forced her own smile. "Right." Still, she couldn't suppress her horror. She hated the haunted look in Seina's eyes. How much horror had this ten-year-old girl suffered through?

And I'm working with those people. Her mind flashed back to the vampire queen bragging about returning her kind to their former glory. Takako shook her head, considering such thoughts foolish for a magical girl. Such sentimentality was a weakness! Besides, Takako was a bad girl, completely heartless. Caring about such nonsense was beyond her.