LUMINARY [bnha]

Chapter 1 - Little Moon

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"Chin up. Shoulders back. No slouching."

Despite her mother's incessant criticism, Tsukiko Nakashima swallowed and nodded, her eyes unwavering on a speck of dust on the ballroom wall opposite her. "Yes ma'am," she murmured. People flitted around her in a tornado of hairspray and hands, tweaking her until she was doll-like and perfect. The fluorescent lights overhead burned her retinas. It was all too much.

Beyond her little huddle of helpers, Tsukiko could hear the rest of the omegas prepping and primping and gossiping. Tinny music echoed from someone's phone across the ballroom, and some of the omegas were dancing, having fun without a care in the world.

Goddess above, Tsukiko wished she was one of them.

One auntie styled Tsukiko's sleek white hair, pulling it taut and securing the silver-and-moonstone ceremonial diadem to her head with a million tiny, stabby bobby pins; another auntie touched up her makeup, painted delicate eyeliner onto Tsukiko's lids, and brushed blush onto her cheeks; an auntie knelt at her feet, helping Tsukiko into traditional tabi socks and zori sandals; a fourth auntie tied a delicate silver-and-white kimono around her, soft as a sigh as it breezed over Tsukiko's skin and waist-cinching corset.

Mother hovered like a circling vulture, waiting for Tsukiko's cold corpse. She checked her crystal-encrusted, gold watch and cursed. "Ten minutes. Are you ready?" she asked Tsukiko while she scribbled something on her clipboard, her lacquered nails clicking on the pink pen in her grip.

Tsukiko almost nodded, but thought better of it for her aunties' sake. "Yes ma'am. I am prepared."

"Even prepared for the fallout? The aftermath?" she countered, putting down her clipboard to eye Tsukiko. Her heels stopped clicking on the tile floor.

After. Tsukiko took a deep breath. Her eighteenth birthday meant things were about to change... but she needed things to change. She couldn't keep living like this. None of them could. So, regardless of her knotted stomach, she said, "Yes ma'am."

With a sigh, Mother tucked her clipboard under her arm and cupped her hands around her mouth. "TEN MINUTES TO SHOWTIME, PEOPLE!" Tsukiko's mother yelled. The excess chatter instantly ceased. "ANY FINAL PREPARATIONS MUST BE DONE IN THE NEXT FIVE MINUTES! I REPEAT: FIVE MINUTES TO LINE UP!"

The outburst startled both Tsukiko and the auntie doing her makeup — Tsukiko felt the tip of the eyeliner slide all the way across her temple to her hairline. "Oopsie!" Auntie Inko laughed, already reaching for a makeup wipe. "Good thing you're at the end of the procession, huh?"

Tsukiko chuckled as Auntie Inko fixed her mistake, quickly redoing the foundation and shimmer. "Thank you," she whispered.

"Always, sweetheart," Auntie Inko said. After steadying her hands, she swept on new eyeliner. "Okay, last step. Eyes closed, hon." Tsukiko listened, and felt Inko blowing softly on her face, drying the eyeliner faster before applying the false lashes.

Auntie Inko's gentle touch was so soothing on Tsukiko's chin that she found herself nearly nodding off. Maybe she did a little.

It is almost time, little moon.

Do not be afraid.

She jumped while goosebumps broke out over her arms, eyes wide as she looked for the voice that definitely wasn't Auntie Inko's or her mother's. It sounded like it was right in her ear... and it sounded like that breathy whisper from her dreams...

"Are you okay, sweetie?" Auntie Inko asked, turning Tsukiko toward her by the chin. Her mom mode kicked in, and her eyes swept over Tsukiko with warm scrutiny. "You slept for only a minute or two, sweetheart. What's wrong?"