A beautiful winter night enveloped the sky.“Listen, mommy! I know what I want to be when I grow up!”
“You do, Ri-chan? Then tell mommy!”
A cute child sat on her mother’s lap as they both gazed at it from their backyard.
“I'll become a star!”
“So Ri-chan wants to be famous?”
“No! A star from the sky!”
“How cute! And why?”
“Because, you know?”
A brief pause was made as the girl raised her hands.
“The stars shine for everyone!”
And the alarm of a cat-shaped clock resting on the bedside table ended the sweet dream of the past. It was time for Rizel to get up and prepare for school. It didn’t excite her. She covered herself with her blanket in an attempt to warp into a different reality. But after her efforts proved useless she got up and put on her glasses, as an act of resignation.
In the kitchen, a woman was cooking rice omelette for breakfast. She was the beautiful mother of the 13 year-old Rizel, but refused to let her own age been told.
“Ri-chan! food is on the table!” she announced enthusiastically, trusting her daughter would be ready by now.
The girl walked downstairs. Her previously messed up hair was now combed and decorated with a hair clip which looked like the cassiopeia constellation, her pajamas were replaced by a traditional sailor uniform, and she changed her glasses for contact lenses, one of which gave her right eye pupil a star shape. A couple of star stickers adorned her skin.
“Good morning.”
Mother and daughter sat down to have their breakfast together. The girl’s serious expression contrasted the woman’s wide smile.
“So, are you happy about going back to school?”
A rather unpleasant question for her, even if asked with the best of intentions.
“I’m sorry, Mom, but getting to spend another year in a room filled with boring human subjects isn’t exactly delightful.”
Rizel actually grinned when she replied, as if she found joy in diminishing her classmates.
“Oh, come on Ri-chan. Your friend will be there, and you mentioned her little sister will be attending the same school starting this year, don’t you get along with her too?”
“Well, that’s certainly a glimmer of hope.”
They stopped talking for a bit and finished their breakfast. Rizel washed the dishes and prepared her lunch. After arranging her school bag, she was finally ready to take off. The girl approached the door accompanied by her mother.
“Take care, Ri-chan.”
“Will do.”
“Eat your lunch properly”
“Don’t worry.”
“Have fun!”
“I’ll try.”
“Ri-chan, your kneesock got loose…”
The girl stared down to check on her legwear. She actually liked the way it looked now.
“Honey, you know I support that you embrace your individuality. But are you sure it’s a good idea to go to school like that?”
A twisted memory stroke Rizel’s mind. It was of her classroom from the previous school year. She was standing in front of the class. Her classmates stared at her while whispering. Those whispers grew louder and clearer.
“What’s wrong with her?”
“How childish!”
“Did she catch the ‘disease’?”
Laughter. Then silence.
“Ri-chan?”
The girl gazed at the sky. Her eyes were filled with melancholy.
“It’s okay, Mom, I understand your concern, after all the will to express oneself has always been met with disdain.”
She then turned to her mother, this time with a warm, genuinely positive smile.
“But the stars won't ever judge.”
With a sense of relief, the woman bid goodbye to her daughter and Rizel finally took off. However, she was still a little worried.
“It's a shame, though, that we can only watch the stars at night.”
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