Lockdown Between Two Extremes
The world has changed since Japan had gone into lockdown due to violent protesters and clashing over their values. For years people have changed going from a spectrum of personalities to more or less two extremes, this was obvious judging by online social media. One group of people were accepting or claiming to accept people from all backgrounds and wanted people to change their outdated beliefs while the other side were traditionalists, ones who kept to their values and complaining that the others are doing change for the sake of change. These were known as the Ashita and the Dentouteki factions, the idea of political parties was unnecessary as the people decided which one they were in, in most cases.
It was decided by the National Diet that segregation was needed to prevent another outburst in the streets of Tokyo. It was rapidly passed and Tokyo was split into two, the border happened to be on Azabu-Juban between the two factions. Usagi, Rei and Minako are at one house located at the Dentouteki sector in the former Tsukino household who moved out of Tokyo to Nagoya while Ami, Makoto, Haruka and Michiru were at an apartment facing each other on the street however they were at the Ashita sector. For two years, it was like this and despite being close to each other, they never saw their former friends.
While watching a TV drama about romance in a high school, the pigtailed blonde held her hands over her stomach, it was growling and gurgling. She was at discomfort, unable to look towards the black haired teenager wearing his school uniform as he was walking towards a short black haired girl wearing the same uniform.
Usagi loudly whined, "I'm hungry... I miss Mako-chan and Ami-chan."
It was so loud that it interrupted the drama that the long dark haired woman wearing a traditional robe looked directly at Usagi with a huff as Usagi was still rubbing her tummy and wanting food, badly.
"We can't talk to them anymore, you idiot", moaned Rei. "You need to control your stomach, you interrupted Masato confessing to Kaori!"
Next to Rei was a blonde haired woman wearing a light yellow dress who was looking at the screen however she got distracted and looked up to the ceiling tilting her head.
Minako wondered, "Yeah, I'm kinda surprised that Ami is with them, I kinda thought you know that she'll be with us."
"She's best friends with that flower hugger and I can't trust Ami with those other two...", bitterly growled Rei as she struggled looking at Usagi and Minako, "Haruka sniffs her own farts and Michiru is such a pretender, all cultured but what she does in bed is another thing."
As Rei looked back towards the screen, annoyed that she missed the big moment since Kaori was lied on the ground Minako looked back to the TV and then to Usagi who was still holding her tummy.
Minako grinned, "I'll get you a trifle, they say life is a box of cakes after all."
"Yay! Thanks Mina!", shouted Usagi as she looked at Minako in happiness while Rei facepalmed with what was going off.
"Box of chocolates, you numpty", quietly growled Rei to herself as Minako made yet another mistake.
Haruka's swanky apartment was basic but modern with laminated flooring, white walled but having a sea scene with a small yacht picture done by her partner Michiru. There was a 4K HD TV by the other wall with a couch that all four of the people were sat down on with Ami in the middle on her laptop. There were four plants by the windowsill, all fairly small. Haruka was wearing a male styled white buttoned shirt with jeans, Michiru was wearing a turquoise dress, Ami was her well worn sailor suit that she wore since high school and Makoto had her iconic uniform of her white knotted top and her high brown skirt.
As she was wiping her bow so it can be clean for the next time that she plays on her violin, Michiru ponded as she looked at Ami, "I just had a thought the other day about Minako, she was a courser musician unlike myself however she was passionate about her work."
"If I remember correctly, Minako and myself were on the borderline in terms of the two extremes so we had to choose which one suited us best. While I might be more traditional than Minako who was more open with her love, she sided with what happened in Nanking and the thought of all those innocent people upset me...", thought Ami as she put her hand on her chin.
"Let me guess, you chose to be with Makoto and Minako chose to be with Usagi and Rei?"
With almost complete silence, Ami nodded knowing that Michiru had read her mind. It was a straight and an affirmative nod, she preferred the more laid back nature of Makoto and her kindness. She also preferred the environment, being more quieter and the only loud one was Haruka, sometimes compared to Usagi and Minako who were more hyper. She did miss Rei who was more her level but it was between one or the other, something that she debated while the government decided within three days of which faction she should be with. Within the last day, she preferred her best friend as the advantages of having a strong yet caring role model were greater and she knew that Makoto would have been upset if she went.
Having her hands on her hips, Haruka cockily asked, "You fancied Mina, Michi-baby?"
Michiru gave an unsure puzzled look, she thought that Haruka was jealous that she loved the attractive idol singer, the self proclaimed Goddess of Love while Haruka was a Formula 1 / Touring Car driver, someone who didn't need to present themselves. Minako could have had a million people dating her while Haruka was lucky to have someone despite trying so badly. Yet Haruka smiled to herself as she knew that she has Michiru, a perfectionist who was also beautiful with that wavy hair. Even though she never told Michiru about this, Haruka preferred her songs to Minako's as she thought that the technical detail helps her concentrate more and had more effort put into each and every song.
"Come here, kitten."
Very suddenly Haruka and Michiru looked at each other's eyes and kissed, with a smile both Makoto and Ami were happy. Whenever Haruka and Michiru were in the apartment kissing, it always gave a good vibe. They soon stopped but as ten minutes passed, the brunette looked down towards the wooden floor as something was on her mind. A depressive thought.
Makoto sulked, "If I have to be honest, I didn't like the names that Usagi called me..."
"Yo, you should cancel culture that bitch", snuffed Haruka as she pointed straight to Mako.
"When we have the evidence from Naru, apparently Usagi treated her very poorly enough to point where she had to disowned her", quietly and forcefully spoke as Ami was looking through Naru's Twitter account on her laptop reading the times that she got raped, both by her and the youma in the past, "Also I have my suspicions that Minako may have raped people backstage when she was performing not so long back."
"Maybe we should change the subject for now", sighed Makoto as she was upset about the past and not just neglect in terms of love, "Want anything to eat?"
While closing her eyes, Haruka muttered, "I'll have a burger, not that crap from McDonalds though."
"I'll share a piece of salmon with Ami", elegantly spoke Michiru while looking at Ami who nodded in response.
With a nod after getting up from the couch and near the door, Makoto looked at the three women who were doing their own thing as Ami was researching and Haruka and Michiru stared at each other. She was thinking that she was glad to have them. Her shy yet smart best friend Ami who could have easily been with Usagi, Rei and Minako. Her confident strong playful friend Haruka and her composed and just as intelligent as Ami friend, Michiru who were both a couple. They supported Makoto for the past two years trying their best to block her pain that she had, none of them insulted her as they know that she was different but didn't mind as they were different themselves. Ami and her anxiety, Haruka was more like Lupin or Ryo at their horniest putting off some people as they expected someone more feminine yet Michiru didn't have anyone before her as people found her too highbrow, a comment that Ami also gets. Some nights, she hugged Ami who was upset about breaking away from her mother while Haruka and Michiru were busy in bed.
Ami softly smiled while looking at her emerald eyes, "I love you Mako."
"I love you two Ami", smiled back Makoto and waved as she gently by her heavy handed standards closed the door.
While flicking through her phone, Minako was looking at the comments of her latest gig with many being positive. Some even said that Minako might be the future face of the Dentouteki people hoping that she would push the Ashitas away to make Japan great again like the bubble economy. She did a cocky smile and jumped for joy when someone posted "Mina forever!" with a love emoji. Yet the smile was short lived as she noted the next comment "really using Nanking in a song? for shame oh and way too many black haired idols, where's the Filipinos and the trans Thai ladies? :("
"I couldn't exactly use wanking as a rhyming word knowing that my younger fans would be there!", whined Minako as she was defending her word choice on what she thought was right, "Oh and Haruka, those ladyboys and Filipinos are ugly, I only want pretty women to be on my side."
"Doesn't that bumsniffer have anything better to do?", growled Rei while looking at her and Usagi was too busy scoffing a trifle to notice, "I'm off to the shrine, you two really get on my nerves."
Very slowly Rei got off from the floor and walked out of the living room towards the hallway to grab the keys and opened the door, with a slight slam enough to hear it close from Usagi and Minako's position. She shuffled down the three steps to put her sandals on that were next to some grubby trainers that looked like they were Minako's and some pink bunny patterned slipons that were Usagi's. There were also some high heels there but it wasn't the moment for Rei to wear them.
Makoto was walking her way to the supermarket, the one place that the government decided that it should be open for both factions however the supermarket was near towards the Hikawa Shrine where Rei was off to. She looked down on the floor, a bit upset that the world had changed so much. Only two years ago, they were all together and friends with each other. Rei never called Haruka a "bumsniffer" or Michiru called Rei "a primitive fossil from the Meiji era". Usagi also never called Makoto an "okama", at least in public. They had their differences but got on despite those differences, now only Ami was the neutral one with both the Ashitas and the Dentoutekis respected her with the former understanding her shyness and her mental disability while the latter due to her more traditional thinking.
She had her shopping list ready, one leek, a fillet of salmon, a packet of rice, seaweed, soy sauce, 400g of cherries and 400g of strawberries. Also written was "American styled burger for Haruka, buy from Pure Deli and Store. Buy vegan ramen for her and Michi at T's Tantan later."
As Makoto walked closer towards the supermarket, Rei also walked closer towards the shrine. They were on the same street and as Rei was within touching distance of turning around the corner, she saw a woman that was a ponytailed brunette wearing a white top and a brown skirt, a piece of signature clothing. Rei knew exactly who she was and marched towards her standing just off the road, luckily no one else was there.
Rei pointed and shouted, "You giant snowflake!"
"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?!", roared Makoto as she turned her head towards the raven haired Dentouteki.
Being really annoyed by what Rei had called her, Makoto rolled up her sleeves ready to punch and kick Rei. It was unknown what happened next however there was a mention on the news the next day that tighter measures were going to be put on place safeguarding both the Ashitas and the Dentoutekis.