Quote:
The Scavenger Hunt (8 ) : Destiny City is hosting an annual scavenger hunt during the Star Festival to encourage people to get out and explore their city. The prize for turning in a completed scavenger hunt is a coupon booklet and a few free tickets to upcoming city events. Even if you aren’t interested in the prize, the scavenger hunt is specifically designed to take you through the city to showcase a few historic buildings, some art installations, and some of the city’s greatest accomplishments. While many of the places are familiar, during your explorations you come across a building you’ve never seen before--something that feels out of time. You’ve been in the area countless times before, so how did you miss this place? When you lay eyes on the building, you feel a strange timelessness and have the distinct sensation of being a part of something bigger. Briefly, you may see flashes of some distant past--a flickering memory that you can’t quite place or fully form. It’s hard to make out, but at some point in time, you have the distinct impression of a faded figure taking your hand and telling you to do something. They sound hopeful and encouraging like they really believe in you. By the time you blink, the visions are gone, the building is gone. The only thing that remains is a beautiful little garden and a plaque so faded that you can’t make out the inscription.
Once more, Sato spent another busy summer vacation afternoon catching bugs, but only at first. In reality, she planned to do something different on this day in addition to insect hunting. To explain, she came across a scavenger hunt flier while she made her around the wishing tree the other day. She pocketed the flier thinking to herself that she'd review it later at her leisure. Days later, she recovered the flier and noticed an interesting route laid out. Well, the coupon book could be interesting to procure, especially if it ends up being useful to Mama and Papa. For now, her mission was to complete the hunt and then explore the surroundings to capture a wide variety of insects. In other words, she was scouting for new insect-hunting haunts.
She spent the next few hours visiting several key locations marked nearby on the Destiny City scavenger hunt map. She even picked up a star charm that was given out this year and affixed it on her satchel.
By the time she reached the city museum, she had slyly captured a few common insects and had them stuffed into her bug box. 'May they cohabit well' before asserting abject dominance over the limited resources in the bug box. Ideally, she'd like them to stay alive just so she could show and explain to her twin sister Nemu the merits of the insects she collected.
Before heading inside to collect her spoils for the taking for the hunt, she carefully shrouded her box with a cloth cover so that it masqueraded as a plain wrapped box. The museum had a policy forbidding the invitation of unwanted creatures so she best be cautious over it.
And with that, some time passed before she left the building. By then, the sun was nearly set. Then, she saw something terribly bewildering.
Across from her should be a garden park, but within view, there was a mysterious and clearly out-of-place building. Its architecture felt familiar yet distant, and while it didn't look like it would collapse under its weight, the building also looked quite old and wise. Naturally, the curiosity got the better of her and Sato approached the building without any sense of caution. Dangerous or not, the entire building seemed and felt unusually familiar to her. It was hard to explain, but she felt like the building emanated a sense of home.
Seconds later, she was indoors and she was hit with a sudden wave of nostalgia. A flurry of indistinguishable folks scurried about, dressed in brightly colored clothing and decorated masks. They held lanterns in their arms and at once, they released them from the pavilion balcony. As dusk came in a blink of an eye, the lanterns resembled fireflies as they drifted away.
Sato was transfixed by the scene that reminded her of some festivals she read about one day. Wouldn't it be fun to experience it one day? Everyone seemed so joyful and amused by the festivities. Soon, the scene faded once she saw glimpses of fireworks being shot into the now blurry dark sky. Soon, it faded to white, and from where she stood, there were flowery shrubs, trees, and a paved waving path. It seems that she has returned to the reality she knew.
"What was all that, anyways? Is this what they call a hallucination from being under the summer heat all day?" Sato spoke to herself. In no time, her phone rang. Oops, it seems she was out too late, and Mama and Papa were going to be home soon… so she reasoned to herself that she better head back before she gets filed under the missing children file at the station.
Quote:
forgive me for the writing - I wrote this around 2 AM on my phone before sleeping....
