In this final part of this story, Rei awakens and is slightly anxious about what Nanako did the night before (eating a magic mushroom). She makes breakfast for the woman she loves, which causes her to wake up, and lament she doesn't have a camera to capture Rei wearing an apron. After they eat together, Rei and Nanako travel to school for the first time, fulfilling one of Nanako's long-time dreams, and they meet Tomoko on the bus. What awaits them at the academy will be sure to change their lives going forward, as some of them feel like they are ascending to another plane of existence, while Fukiko will be impacted undoubtedly after receiving Rei's special gift...
Both slept soundly through the night. Rei was awakened when sunlight filtered into the room. She remained slightly anxious about what Nanako did the night before. She slipped out of bed without Nanako realizing. Some time later, Nanako arose when she smelled food. She thought it was odd that she didn't see Rei anywhere. Yawning and walking toward the kitchen, she was pleasantly surprised. She saw something she never would have expected, not in a million years: Rei wearing an apron and serving her food.
"Here, mademoiselle, is your scrambled eggs." Nanako took her up on her offer. She didn't think she would ever see something like this. If only she had her camera! This moment would surely be imprinted in her memory.
"Rei-sama...you know, that apron, well, it doesn't suit you at all!" Rei began laughing. She had expected that Nanako would say something like that. They didn't say much to each other for the rest of the meal, until Rei told Nanako that she had to prepare for school. This made her nervous. She didn't have any of her school books or anything!
Just then, the telephone began to ring. Rei leisurely walked over to it and answered. It was Tomoko. Nanako couldn't hear anything, but she could guess that Tomoko had gone to her house to pick up her bag. She really was such a good friend. Luckily for them, Nanako happened to be wearing her school uniform that day, so that wasn't an issue.
Rei closed the door behind them as they made their way toward the train station. Nanako never would have imagined that she would be able to walk to school with her. She had dreamed of something like this.
Along the way, Rei leaned toward Nanako. "Are you doing okay, Nanako-chan? After eating that mushroom last night I thought..." Nanako was caught off guard to hear that Rei was concerned. That never would have happened before.
"That's sweet, but I'm fine...I just wanted to be like you...after all, I tried to smoke to because you looked so cool and so sexy...you probably remember," she said sheepishly. This caused a howl of laughter from Rei, making Nanako even more embarrassed. Dear Brother, Rei is being silly this morning. Maybe that mushroom really changed her, she thought to herself.
Before long, they found themselves on the train they would take, from which you had to transfer to a bus to get to the academy. It was there they saw Tomoko. She happily hugged Nanako and handed her bag to her, while brushing the dust off Nanako's clothes. She had to be presentable to go to a school like this. No speck of dust could be showing. Rei didn't care as much about all of that.
They traveled with Tomoko to the bus, which took them to the school's gates, and made their way off without any issue. It wasn't as crowded as it could have been. What would happen that day would change the lives of Tomoko, and Nanako's friends, in ways they could not comprehend. And it would be all thanks to a glowing blue mushroom.
The day had started normally. The girls gathered in the hallways and were overwhelmed by Rei's beauty. "Saint-Just!" they declared, as she walked forward, willing to show herself off. Nanako didn't even mind that, as she knew a side of Rei that these girls didn't seen. As the day went on, Rei made her way to the school's tower. She didn't expect to find Kaoru there. She shone brightly in the light that filtered through the tower's windows.
"Kaoru...why are you here?," Rei asked, wondering what had caused her to skip class. She did sometimes, but other times attended class like everyone else.
"What's been going on between you and Misonoo-chan?...you seem close...closer than before," Kaoru said matter-of-factly.
Rei laughed, almost in a childish way, and shook her head. Kaoru could tell she was different now. Something had changed.
"I'm going out with her...and she has saved me." She continued, "everything has been hollow for so long. I want to live, not feel like a ghost and not feel cold...Nanako is helping me overcome that and that magical fungi...too"
Kaoru was happy that Nanako had someone for her. However, the talk of a magical plant worried her. After all, she had heard so many stories of what these drugs did. She had read the papers. What she said next was something Rei did not expect her friend would ever say to her.
"I'd like to try that 'magical fungi' too?...it might help me...with all these pains." Kaoru had good reason for asking this. Her health was deteriorating. She had received the news, from her doctor, about how long she would have left, thanks to her breast cancer. She once had a double mastectomy, hoping to stop the cancer's growth. The operation had done nothing to stop the disease.
This was something Rei hadn't expected. She did not want anyone else to experience what she did. Already Nanako had taken one and she didn't want Kaoru to do the same.
"I...don't think that's a good idea, Kaoru...when I took one it really messed with my mind...I started seeing things, like these little grey..."
What she was saying was quickly interrupted when Kaoru boldly reached inside of Rei's pocket. Even holding Kaoru's arm was no use. As a member of the school's basketball team, she was agile. She could move quickly when she wanted to, although her physical health could prevent this, sometimes. Rei could do the same, even though she didn't exert herself in as much physical activity as Kaoru.
She placed the mushroom into her mouth. She quickly chewed the fungi, turning into tiny pieces, making it easier to swallow, allowing it to go down her throat with ease. If Nanako had been there, she would have been horrified. Rei was different. She knew that Kaoru had been through a lot, so she gave her a pass, this time. Kaoru could feel something changing within her body. She became hyperaware of each part of her spine, how tight her shoulders were, and everything around her. She was truly out of her depth and out of her head. She tried to focus, but struggled to do so. The world didn't feel like it was spinning, but all her senses her enhanced. She felt she could hear everything. And the pain in her chest had disappeared!
The effects of the blue angel still weren't fully known. There was no doubt it affected people differently. Even so, every single person saw little grey creatures. Kaoru saw them too. They began dancing around, making themselves known to her. In some ways they were a hallucination, but in another, they were real. At that very moment, Mariko walked into the room, her beautiful black hair shimmering in the dappled sunlight. She looked at Kaoru with concern.
"Prince Kaoru, are you there? What's wrong?" Kaoru only looked at her happily, touching her hair, not huffing or getting annoyed. Mariko would have backed away, but she was glad that Kaoru was paying attention to her more closely rather than just seeing her as a groupie, as she often seemed to do. Suddenly, Kaoru fell to the floor, with her pupils enlarged, and began laughing. She playfully grabbed Mariko's shoulder, wrapping her arm around her, and picked her up in a princess carry, much to her surprise, causing her to be embarrassed, beyond belief. Mariko hadn't expected this, not at all!
"Oh, Mariko-sama, you'll love this, it will send you on a magical journey!" Before she knew it, Kaoru had stuffed a mushroom into her mouth and was massaging her throat, encouraging her to swallow it. She started to feel things like she'd never felt before. She started twitching, trembling, and her limbs got numb. She was at ease as she heard voices of the past. She was happy. All the pain she was experiencing seemed to fade away. She no longer felt fragile or weak. She soon found herself in some other dimension. Rei was there too since some of the mushroom that Kaoru had given to Mariko had pulled her in.
They soon could see the plane of existence, of this dimension, which they floated above, falling into nothing. These strange grey beings watched them. In the process, Rei could see a table where her sister was sitting, drinking her tea, twirling her hair nervously. She used her finger to send her sister a message, saying "Let me live my own life." She felt that from the deepest parts of her heart.
In real life, Fukiko saw this play out and looked around, wondering what was happening. It couldn't be Rei, right? She was so thoroughly confused that she paced around the room, staring at the message intently. She didn't know what was going on. She didn't dare get any of her servants, not wanting them to think she was out of her mind.
Rei couldn't send her any more messages, however, because the dimension had crumbled away. They came back to reality. They were lying on the floor of one of the rooms in the academy tower. At that very moment, Nanako came in and saw them all there. Dear Brother, I think my friends have totally lost it. They are on the floor of a dirty tower and look like they are totally out of it. But they seem so happy...so I guess that's fine...
"Oh Nanako, my sweet girl...you should have seen it. I feel I could do anything now...I could..." As she said this, she collapsed into Nanako's arms. They stayed there for a bit. Mariko enjoyed her bliss with Kaoru, her fingernails, painted the nicest color of ruby red, shining in the light, as she clasped Kaoru's arm.
A few days later, Fukiko heard the doorbell ring. A man with a specially wrapped box was there. "Miss, if you could sign for this package." She pulled out her ballpoint pen which she had bought in a local store. It would be years before the first gel pen would be released by a company in Osaka, or when rollerball pens would be popular. In her elegant cursive, she signed the note. The man bowed and departed.
Coming back to the study, she opened the box, especially after seeing it was from her sister Rei. Inside was one item, wrapped nicely in a cloth napkin. It was a glowing blue mushroom. This was what she had seen earlier, the same thing Nanako had taken away from her. It came with a note: "Dearest sister, please take this. It changed my life. I hope it will change yours. Please eat it. You will go somewhere you never imagined. Love, Rei."
Fukiko found this message most peculiar. As she looked around to make sure no one was watching, she walked over to the study's nearby door and closed it. No one could disturb her. She went back and forth about whether she should take it, remembering how it affected her sister. She decided to eat it. The possible side effects did not matter to her. She wanted to consume this mushroom. She wanted to go to another dimension. Perhaps it would change her life.
What happened next would change her in more ways than one. The saga of the mushroom in this world, and its impact on her, her sister, Nanako, Mariko, and Kaoru, had just begun...