Chapter 2: Sky Dream 1.1

Karin opened her eyes and found herself lying on a white bed. Karin sat up and looked around the room only to realize that she was at the nurse's office.

"Host, do you want to receive the memory and wish of the original now?" Sho questioned, appearing next to Karin.

Seeing him floating next to her, Karin raised an eyebrow. "You can enter the world?" she asked.

"Of course!" Sho said proudly, seemed to appear just a little bigger than before. "I'm not one of those AI systems created by the 4th Division, after all."

"Ohhh," Karin gave off a sly smile. "Give me the memory."

Her current host's name is Miyano Karin, the only daughter of the Miyano family. Miyano grew up in a middle-class family whose father works as the manager of a large tech. company and her mother is involved in politics. As her parents' only child, Miyano grew up as a spoiled little princess, but all this changed when Miyano turned 12 and her parents were killed in a car accident, leaving Miyano as the sole survivor. After her parents' death, Miyano went to live with her paternal grandparents in the country side, as her maternal family refused to take her in due to being too busy with their own family to look after her.

And thus, Miyano went to live with her grandparents and met her uncle, Masato, and her younger cousin by 3 years, Yuka. Living in the country side, although not as bad as other families and could be considered rich thanks to her father's monthly supply of money to the old couple, who refused to abandon their livelihood for the comfortable life of the city, Miyano could no longer be as spoiled and pampered as she used to be and had to start learning how to do chores. She had to start waking up at 6 to help grandma and Yuka prepare breakfast, then get dressed for school and return home to help clean the house, wash the clothes, and make dinner. On her days off, there are times when she could be lazy, but when harvest season rolls around, Miyano had to go help in the fields. Sometimes she and Yuka go with Masato to do some odd jobs or sell the food they got from their land to get some pocket money for snacks or save in the piggy bank. However, although it was a harder life than she was used to, Miyano enjoyed it because every day was fun. Unlike her parents, who rarely had time for her, she got to spend almost every hour of the day with her family, constantly together.

Her uncle is a hard worker and has a great personality that makes every day fun for both Yuna and Miyano, but despite this, he can't seen to move ahead in life. Her grandmother always complains about her grandfather's and uncle's drinking behavior and always disappearing every day to go hide at their friends' house to drink and smoke, but she is also a great story teller. As for Yuka, she was very helpful and patient with Miyano, always helping to teach Miyano how to do the chores and looking after her the first few weeks of school to make sure that she's not being bullied. Most of the time, Yuka will take Miyano along with her whenever she does out with her friends, and Miyano slowly became the sweet big sister in the group.

However, happiness did not last long. When Miyano was 15, her uncle got married to a widow named Sono Akira. Both Yuka and Miyano were happy for their uncle, and Miyano was happy that Yuka was finally going to have a mother, as her birth mother died when Yuka was 4 due to illness. When Akira married in, she also brought along her son, who is one year younger than Miyano, named Hiroshi.

At first, everything was fine, but as time went on, people's true colors started to show. Akira is a hard-working woman but is controlling and bossy. Also, most of the profits made, Akira, who took liberty to become the money manager of the family in place of grandma, would give them to her parents and save for Hiroshi's future, but gave the excuse of saving for the children's future. As for Hiroshi, unlike his hardworking mother, he is lazy and got into video games, leading to his grades dropping. But he did not worry because his mother spoiled him and always gave him everything that he wanted. Unlike Miyano and Yuka, Hiroshi doesn't wake until later in the day and often stayed up late into the night to play video games, rarely going to school. Aside from the first few months of moving in, he never did any chores.

Sometimes Yuka and Miyano returned home from school to find their grandparents home all by themselves while the family of three disappeared off somewhere with the car. They never told the family where they were going and would often come back for dinner. No matter how late, the girls would always have to leave dinner for them, or otherwise risk listening to the sound of Akira's complaints and become the talk of the village again.

Later, grandma fell ill and Akira said that there was not enough money to treat her. Thus, both Miyano and Yuka started taking on some side jobs to raise enough money to take grandma for treatment. However, because of this, their grades dropped and Akira made them drop out of school to help work the fields, insisting that with their grades the way it were, there was no point in them wasting more money on learning. However, the girls refused and they had a big fight. In the end, Miyano decided to drop out, but insisted that Yuka stay in school because she still had time to make up and because she had a better head for learning than Miyano. Later, Akira suggested that Miyano get married so that they would have a son-in-law to help lift the weight off the family, but Miyano refused to marry. She persisted and waited for her 18th birthday to come and get her inheritance money, and just as there seemed to be hope, Hiroshi raped Miyano and Akira forced her to marry him. When Miyano finally got her inheritance, Akira took the money away, arguing that the money belonged to Hiroshi because he is her husband and that Miyano had to compensate for all the money the family spent on her to raise her to this age. As her grandmother's condition was really bad this time, Miyano did not give in and the fight between the two led to Miyano's death.

Karin sighed. After receiving the memory of the original, she thought for sure that the original's wish was to get rid of the two mother and son, and save her grandmother, but in fact that was not the case. The original's wish was actually to fulfill her childhood dream.

When she was 7, Miyano went on an overseas vacation with her parents to America, and that was the first time she got on a plane. And it was also the first time she made a decision about her future. After seeing the flight attendants, Miyuna decided that she wanted to be one of the kind and beautiful angles and told her parents so. Both of them encouraged Miyano to pursue this dream. This dream, to Miyano, was probably the only complete memory that she had of her joyful time with her parents. However, in this life Miyano felt that it is impossible to achieve this dream, and thus exchanged her body for her wish. So now that Karin has come, this dream is what she must aim for.

Right now, Miyano is currently 17, her grandmother had just fallen illness, and Miyano is in the nurse's office because she fainted from overwork and stress. They are about to take the midterm exam, and this exam is rather important now that it is Miyano's last year in high school.

Thinking about her current body condition, Karin lied back down and tried to formulate a plan to complete the wish of the body.

"Thinking about a plan to counterattack, Host?" Sho spoke up. "I suggest you stop working and focus on your studies, or at least take a smaller amount of workload."

"Um," Karin agreed. "I was actually wondering if there is a hospital that may need some help. Maybe I can become an assistant or errand girl to earn some money. Or maybe I can play with the stocks market…"

Her mother's family owned a large hospital and when her father was mortal, he worked there for a time. When they lost Yayoi, the family of four moved out and Saito opened up a clinic instead. Back then, Karin and Harumi had to help their father treat the patients and often tend to their rebellious brother's wounds.

However, after her banishment, Karin wanted to start over. It's not that she hates being a nurse or a doctor, but she wanted to try something else, so went to learn finance. Not only will she acquire new knowledge, but she can also avoid working in the family hospital and see her cousin and uncle every day too.

Karin glanced at the floating blue orb next to her and frowned. "Can you do something about your form?" she asked. "I don't want to look like I'm talking to air and be treated as a freak again."

Sho was silent for a moment before beginning to glow brighter and suddenly shrink into the shape of a white bird small enough to perch on Karin's shoulder.

"Is this better?" he asked from his place on Karin's shoulder.

Karin Gave him an affirmative nod before getting out of bed and headed to class.

Karin strolled into the class and sat down in Miyano's seat. She remembered that English was next, so was getting out her textbook when she suddenly felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around to find Miyano's best friend, Saori, worried eyes staring back at her.

"Are you okay?" she asked with concern.

Karin remembered that from childhood, this girl was, out of all her 7 friends, the only one who reached out to help Miyano and stayed in close contact with her even after Miyano dropped out and married Hiroshi. Every time she came back home from college, Saori would always make time to come visit and talk with Miyano, who become isolated and depressed after the rape scandal.

"I'm fine, Ri-chan," Karin replied. In her life, Karin has never used honorifics to address her peers and those younger than her before, so her soul felt a bit uncomfortable, but the body was used to it though, and so reacted according to muscle memory. "Thanks for taking me to the nurse's office."

Saori frowned. "You," she sighed. "If you keep going on like this, you'll kill yourself one day, Rin-chan. If you really need money that badly, why not get a loan first and then pay it back later. At least with that, you'll only hear your aunt's lecture."

Karin inwardly sighed. Actually, she was also thinking that this was one way out, but Miyano was raised with the disciple of never owning anyone money. When it came to money, her parents spoiled her, but also disciplined her really well manner and behavior wise.

"You know I don't like owing people money, Ri-chan," said Karin. "Even if they are my relatives."

Saori took hold of Karin's hand. "But I worry about you. You've fainted twice this week and your test score is falling, Rin-chan. At this rate, you'll-"

Karin took her hand out of Saori's and seriously said, "I don't plan on dropping out, Saori, don't worry. We'll attend college together. Though…" Karin turned her eyes away in guilt. "I don't know if I want to be a teacher anymore…"

"What?!" Saori shouted in panic, standing up. But before she could go further, the door slid open and the teacher walked in.

"We'll talk during lunch," Saori whispered the promise to Karin as she sat, and the lessons began.

The bell rang, and English finally ended. Lucky, unlike her brother, who failed at every subject, Karin practically aced all hers just to stay on the soccer team back in her youth, so this was no difficulty for her at all.

Just as she finished putting her books away, Karin felt someone standing at her side and turned to find Saori looking at her with a determined face, her lunch box in hand.

Karin chuckled weakly. "Ri-chan, aren't you going to the snack bar?" she asked.

Saori slammed her lunch box down on the table and moved her chair over to sit, gazing at Karin. "No way," she answered. "I'm not going to give you time to hide from me."

"How could I possibly do such a thing, Ri-chan?" Karin took out her own lunch.

Saori humped at her and opened her lunch box. "So," she began, "what's this about you not wanting to be a teacher anymore?"

"Well…" said Karin. "Actually, I want to be a flight attendant."

"Flight attendant?"

Karin nodded. "Yeah," she started to eat. "It's actually been a dream of mine since I was seven. I've always wanted to visit other countries."

"You," Saori looked worried. "Are you sure? I mean, the work of a flight attendant, you're always in the sky. Is that really the life you want?"

"I was actually thinking about that."

"About what?" a voice spoke up at the side, and the two girls turned around to find Yuka standing in between them, her lunch box in hand.

"Yuka," said Karin. "What are you doing here?"

Normally, because they are of different age and in different grades, the two don't interact with each other much during school hours, and lunch is often spent with their separate group of friends.

"I came to see how you were doing," said Yuka, as she walked to Saori's desk and placed her lunch down.

Karin and Saori got up and began to move their chairs and Karin's desk to meet with Saori's desk.

"I'm fine, Yuka," said Karin as she and Saori sat back down to continue lunch. "I just felt a little lightheaded from low blood. Nothing to worry about."

Yuka silently gazed at Karin for a moment before sighing and started to eat her lunch. "If you can't do it, it's okay," said Yuka. "If grandma knew that something happened to you because of her, she'll be sad."

"I know," replied Karin. "You don't need to worry about it so much. I'll lighten some of the load and go home with you today."

Yuka paused and blinked. "Really?" she asked excitedly. Karin hadn't come home with her for a while now, as she had been too busy with work in the city. Usually, Karin would return at round eleven, and by then, everyone in the family is already asleep.

Karin nods. "Really," she gave a positive answer.

Yuka smiled in happiness, but then frowned as a thought hit her. "But, will your boss be okay? I mean, that kind of high paying job…"

"It's fine," Karin replied. "I plan to quite."

"What?!" both Saori and Yuka shouted.

"Quite?" said Saori.

"What do you mean?" asked Yuka. "Did you find a new job?"

Karin shook her head. "No," she replied. "But I just remembered." She stared at Yuka. "I'm turning 18 soon."

It took a moment before Yuka realized what she meant and gasped.

"Oh yeah. I totally forgot. So I guess with this, you have nothing to worry about now, hah?" said Saori. "Is that why you now want to be a flight attendant?"

"What?" said Yuka. "Flight attendant? Sis, I thought you wanted to be a teacher?"

Karin smiled. "I did. But I changed my mind."

Yuka became silent as she thought about it. "Flight attendant… That means you'll be gone a lot…"

Karin nodded. "That's right. So, can I be a little selfish and count on you to look after grandma and grandpa for me?"

Light shone in Yuka's eyes. "Of course!"

"Good, I'll be sure to make enough money to send you to med school."

"Sis," Yuka started to protest.

Karin stared at her with eyes full to seriousness, her strong aura suppressing Yuka back into her seat. "I know you can do it, Yuka," she assured her. "You're smart, and you care for others, especially the elderly. This profession is the right one for you, so don't restrict yourself to the life of a farmer. Once I turn 18, I will take us into the big city. There'll be more opportunities there."

"Wait, wait," Saori spoke up. "Into the city? You mean you're moving back to your old house? What about me? Are you going to abandon me?"

Karin stared blankly at her, and Saori's eyes lit up in flames.

"Don't you even think about it! Fine," she stood up. "A flight attendant is it? Going around the world?" She laughed as if she was mad. "Sounds fun! count me in."

Karin and Yuka winched a bit as the image of a certain woman came into their heads.

"But Ri-chan," said Karin. "What about your mom?"

"Mom?" said Saori. "What about her? This is my life. She can't control me."

Saori's mother is an elementary school teacher in charge of teaching the 5th and 6th graders. Her subject is Japanese. In their elementary school, there were three teachers to fear. One is the Japanese teacher, one is the female English teacher, and the last and most feared of all is the male physical education and mathematics teacher. All of them are known to be quite strict, but only the English and P.E. teachers carry around dangerous and deadly weapons, the textbook of the Japanese teacher is not considered deadly, but scary.

Although the English teacher did not have any real weapon, when she hits your forehead because you misbehave or forgot to complete her homework, it can really sting and make you red for a least 3 days. As for the P.E. teacher, unlike the English and Japanese teacher, who only had a fearsome reputation among the upperclassmen, children in every grade fears him. It doesn't matter who you are, the minute you enter the school and meet this teacher, you will automatically fear him, because this teacher carries around a meter stick and will hit you, either on your hands or your bottom, the minute he sees you misbehaving.

For those who are late to school or P.E. class, you will run laps, and for those late to his math class or didn't complete their homework, you will stand on top of your chair behind the classroom, crane style, with your arms held out to keep balance while your mouth must hold onto a ruler for 5 minutes, if you are in the first to third grade. For the upper class, two buckets full of water are added to the punishment, and the time is increased to 10 minutes.

Finally, Saori's mom, who is actually known as the kindest amongest all three, only punishes misbehaving students and those who forgot to finish her homework with copying Japanese passages from 10 up to 100 times. If you are lucky, you will only be copying something light that will only take up to at least 5 to 10 pages to finish, but if not, then you can go up to 500 pages. Not only does she make you copy them, but also to recite them and explain their meanings in full details as well, otherwise it's back to copying with you. Because of the combination of these three fierce teachers, their students rarely slacked off, even well into adulthood, and never forgot what they taught them for life.

"You're lucky it's only your mom," a girl spoke up, attracting the attention of all three as they turned to look at the new arrival. "Though my aunt will probably be happy to teach me English."

The person who spoke up is Matsui Rika, the niece of the English teacher and childhood friend of Saori. Because of their mother and aunt's relationship, as well as leaving close to each other, the two had known one another for a long time. Although the original is not as close to Rika as Saori is, they still kept an acquaintance relationship and sometimes hang out. However, the original did not like the tomboy Rika too much though.

Rika sighed. "But I don't know if I want to go through her hellish training though. I don't know if I can survive it..." Her voice became smaller toward the end.

"You want to be a flight attendant too, Rika?" Saori asked.

"Yeah," Rika cheered up. "I mean, who doesn't want to be seen as a beautiful angle? And besides, this adds to my chances of marrying into fortune!"

So that's your real goal, thought Karin, Saori, and Yuka.

And thus, with their future decided, the girls finished their lunches and returned to afternoon lessons.