Humming a tune, Leanne cheerfully skipped while walking inside the park premises. What was going on outside was not of her knowledge as of now.
"What to do... Oh, I remember now!"
With her course decided on a whim, Leanne broke to a quick run towards the activity center area of the park. A few minutes was all it took before she reached an area with a sizable crowd. A large stall was near the stage. Banners decorated the stall, with the main and biggest one putting emphasis on a twintails girl whose hair was dyed in bright crimson. She was winking and giving the V hand signal in the banner.
Leanne walked closer to the booth and quickly caught the attention of the pictured twintails girl. She ordered the same male assistant to take her place in distributing CDs for a while before facing Leanne.
"Oh if it isn't Miss Sanchez from the school!"
"Ohai, Ru-chan!~"
Leanne respond in a similarly upbeat tone. while being in different classes, she has been quite acquainted with Ruki, the head of Shiratori's music club.
"What's up, Sanchez? Did you come here to get one of the limited edition CDs from Hoshizora?"
Ruki, besides heading the music club at school, is also a member of Hoshizora, a group that was formed from club members. While mostly sticking to school performances for occasions, such as the Shiratori festival, Hoshizora has started doing promotions outside campus and to the mainstream public.
So this must be one of those promotions... thought Leanne.
While talking with Ruki, Leanne also eyed the band's male vocalist from a distance. This one she's not too acquainted with, although she has been quite a closet fan of him, especially after the band's performance during Shiratori festival.
"Are you buying or not?" interrupted Ruki, after seeing Leanne in a trance-like gaze.
"A-ah! Sorry about that. I guess I am, bu-"
"Thank you for your patronage! I'll even let you avoid the line, aren't I so kind?!"
The twintails girl's face lit up with a smile in a split second. She hurried back to the booth and took a CD, along with button pins and a bookmark.
Leanne can't help but laugh as the extra merchandise looked exactly like how she expected them to be: with Ruki's face on it. In both items, she was pointing forward with a mischievous expression on her face, complete with the tagline "Twinkle Starlight Straight to your Heart!"
"You really feel like a school idol, don't you?" asked Leanne, giggling as she browsed through the extra stuff before putting them in her bag. "Good luck with that!"
"Of course! Twinkle Starlight!"
After cutely calling her "signature move", complete with an adorable wink and a finger gun playfully pointed, Ruki set herself to return to the booth.
Before she can finish, she was interrupted by a rumbling noise from a distance away. This was felt by everyone in the vicinity too, including Leanne. The rumbling sound grew louder and louder before being accompanied by people's shouts and the noise of several footsteps, inching closer and closer to the activity center.
A series of successive noises that were evidently gunshots soon filled the air. A group of people stormed the activity center while running from armed machine soldiers.
Leanne clutched her bag. She shakily asked, expecting to find no answer from the equally-startled people around her. "W-what's going on here?"
The troupe of machine soldiers stopped, their guns aimed at some people. "SCANNING FOR DEMONIC THREAT. ALL PERCEIVED THREATS WILL BE ELIMINATED."
YOU ARE READING
Arcadia
FantasyArcadia, the City of Tomorrow, a bastion of technology and a peek of a bright and shining future. Located within it is Shiratori Academy, a prestigious school which offers lessons for students to harness their Rei-their spiritual energy. But the my...
