The Star remembers it all, together with its twinkles…

It had been some time since her unexpected 'debut' as Aogashima, and equally the same amount of time it had taken Tochi to finally come to (some) sort of understanding that there was more to it than being a magical space idol. At least, that was the hope that certain people had, to say the very least. Truth be told, Tochi was still pretty convinced there was more to it than what had already been explained to her- the sparkly dress and magical identity had to mean something more, or more than what had been divulged to her thus far (and that she had retained, when it came to such knowledge.)

At first, she had attempted to ask Morie, who had unexpectedly turned out to have a powered identity of her own; however, Morie, sensing an opportunity to turn this into a learning opportunity for Tochi, had suggested she seek out the answer on her own. That wasn’t satisfactory enough of an answer for Tochi, having hoped that her older sister would simply explain everything to her, seeing as she was supposed to be the ‘smart’ sister, and for a brief period of time, had frustrated her to no end. Who died and made Morie the gatekeeper for ‘knight’ knowledge? Why couldn’t it be as simple as a talking giraffe sending her a mysterious invitation for an audition via text message?

Of course, while Morie had stressed the importance of figuring things out on her own, she hadn’t said anything about asking for outside help, and especially not anything about asking her very own Mauvian friend, Rune. It was fortunate that she had such a handy friend at times like this- not only was Rune her fellow idol fanatic and vtuber buddy, but, by virtue of being a Guardian cat, Rune had knowledge at her fingers- er, paws- that would come in handy in this sort of situation. While Rune didn’t always know everything, at least when it came to things that didn’t involve idols, she was still able to point Tochi in the right direction, and that was enough.

As it turned out, knights, according to Rune, were similar to senshi in that, just as senshi drew their power from their homeworld, knights drew theirs from a ‘wonder’ that they had been pledged to. Thus, while the kitten couldn’t tell Tochi just what kind of place Aogashima was, the fact was that Tochi had a special place all of her own, somewhere out there in space- she just had to figure out how to get there. That took a little trial and error, more brainstorming together with Rune, who couldn’t quite offer any more advice beyond what she had already dispensed, but eventually, the two managed to rub enough braincells together to where Tochi knew just what she had to do.

(Morie would be proud, if it weren’t for the whole ‘exploiting a loophole via guardian cat’ thing.)

I pledge my life and loyalty to Cosmos, and to Aogashima.
I humbly request your aid, so that in return I may give you mine.

Once Tochi- er, Aogashima- had an idea as to what she should be doing, the words came easily, as if she had known them all along. Waiting for a time that Morie wasn’t home, Tochi had powered up, and, with the plastic planisphere that was her magical artifact of sorts in hand, had spoken those words, in the hopes of being whisked away to some promised land that was hers and hers alone. As much as she wanted to take Rune with her, they had decided that it would be best for the page to experience things on her own, at least for her first time. Still, Aogashima promised to tell Rune all about it when she got back, and perhaps bring back a souvenir if there were any to be found. At least, she hoped there’d be something to bring back, anyway; there was so much unknown to her about magical places out in outer space, but with any luck, it wasn’t just some barren wasteland in the middle of nothingness.

When Aogashima next opened her eyes, she found herself in what seemed to be a grand concert hall… or what was left of it, anyway. Evidently, no one else had been here in quite some time, as the effects of the passage of time had taken its toll on what Aogashima was sure was once a very elaborate hall where all kinds of performances had taken place. It was very brief, but the Cosmos page was almost certain she could even visualize the former splendor of the elegant auditorium, where ‘stage girls’ much like herself would have performed on stage, among the stars, for a full house.

Well, barren and run-down as it was, this just settled things- once upon a time, there were idols, even all the way out in outer space. Sure, it wasn’t quite along the lines of her space idol anime, with the ‘idols that come to see you’, that traveled across the galaxy in a spaceship, but at the same time, this justified the teen’s feeling all the same that being Aogashina had something to do with a similar concept, at the very least. Maybe not quite along the lines of what her original fantasies were, but then again, she had just only touched ground in her wonder; there were discoveries that were to be had, more clues to find as she did some more exploring.

It was all so very exciting, really! There was a certain feeling of giddiness that Aogashima was bursting with, and she felt a pang of sadness that she had no way of contacting Rune from all the way out here in the middle of the sea of stars- no cell service out in space, and all that. A part of her wanted to hurry on back home, so she could tell the idol-loving Mauvian about her discovery, but another part of her wanted to spend a little more time, to take a walk around, and get a good look at the place. It would be a shame to leave too soon, after all.

Well, another fifteen minutes or so wouldn’t hurt, maybe. There was some time left before Morie came back home.

Scatter your dream about, don't forget about your dream
The future holds endless possibilities, so let the curtains rise

(word count: 1101)