A Bridge Across the Milky Way

Author's Foreword: When I started watching Houkago no Pleiades I wasn't expecting it to affect me the way it did in the end. Like Subaru, I'm an astronomy geek, and my first time behind a drive shaft (i.e. driving a car) was also a bit of a disaster. The anime's bittersweet ending left me wanting to know more, but with a two years old movie announcement and no evidence that anything new is actually being produced, I was left to my own devices. So, I ended up doing what many fans in similar situations have done.

I wrote my own sequel.

A story like this will probably become quite common in the Pleiades fandom, small though it is. Nonetheless, I hope you will enjoy this tale that my Muse has spun. I tried to keep things as well researched and factually based as I can without getting too morbidly realistic, especially when it pertained to Minato's medical condition (trust me, reading primary medical literature about the recovery of long-term coma patients is not an uplifting experience). Each chapter will have an Author's Notes (A/N) section at the end, explaining some of the more esoteric points raised in the story.

I've also drawn complementary illustrations for each chapter. Here is the link to the illustration for chapter 1 (please delete the spaces and replace the period): fav (period) me/d90ofh4

Disclaimer: Houkago no Pleiades/Wish Upon the Pleiades belongs to GAINAX Co., Ltd. and Fuji Heavy Industries, Ltd.

Chapter 1

The noisy buzz of cicadas, the smell of freshly cut watermelon, and the gentle breeze from a bamboo hand-fan; all of these together formed the quintessential picture of summer on a quiet August afternoon.

Enjoying the summer warmth on a shaded patio were a pair of young girls: Subaru, who sported pink hair with two rebelliously curly tuffs, and her friend Aoi, who had short blue hair and gray rimmed glasses.

Subaru sighed contently as she swallowed the last of the watermelon slice Aoi's mom had prepared for them. Next to her, Aoi was studying the neighbor's tabby cat that had wandered into her backyard, and was now lying lazily by their feet. Then Aoi looked up toward Subaru.

"You're going to see the Perseids meteor shower?" Aoi asked as her fan stirred the air in front of her face, "That was the same meteor shower from the flier you gave me last year, right?"

Subaru shook her head. "Actually, they're two completely different meteor showers!"

Subaru turned to face her blue-haired friend and Aoi could practically see the stars dancing in her friend's excited eyes as she explained, "The one from last year was the September Perseids.* It's a minor meteor shower. The summer Perseids is a lot more dramatic, but since it occurs while we're on summer vacation we can't use the observatory at school to see the meteor shower. Instead, we're planning to go see it on the hill at the edge of town."

"We? Oh, that's right, you mentioned three people joined the Astronomers' Association at your school over the last year," Aoi tipped the oval bamboo fan to her chin thoughtfully.

"I was actually wondering if you'd like to come too, Aoi-chan. That's why I came by today." Subaru said, smiling wistfully down at her hands on her lap. "I know we don't go to the same school any more, but you're an important friend to me, and I would really like for us to spend some time together while we can over the summer. So it would be great if you could join us for this year's meteor shower."

Aoi blushed and swiftly shifted her gaze back to the cat resting on the stone courtyard. "Ah! O-of course I'll go!" Aoi stammered. "After all," the blue haired girl looked back at Subaru with a warm smile, "I couldn't make it for last year's meteor shower, so I definitely won't miss out this year!"

"Great!" Subaru beamed. She looked down at the pile of watermelon rind and reached for the plate, "Here, let me throw these away!"

As Subaru began walking into the house, Aoi's hand waving the bamboo fan paused, and she looked back at Subaru.

"Say, Subaru…would it be alright if I invited Kyou to come along as well?"

Subaru blinked at her friend. "Kyou? Who's that?"

"My friend from school, um…you know, the red-haired girl that you see me riding the bus with everyday?" Aoi offered weakly.

"Ah!" Subaru exclaimed. "That's right! I'm sorry, Aoi-chan! I completely forgot her name!"

Aoi sighed. Subaru was a sweet person, but despite being in their second year of junior high and having a knack for astronomy-related facts, she was still a little slow when it came to things like remembering people's names. Some things never change I guess, Aoi thought.

Shrugging her shoulders, she reassured Subaru, "Don't worry about it. If it's alright with you, I'll call her later and ask her if she's available tomorrow night."

"Sure! The more the merrier!" Subaru smiled cheerfully.

The next evening, Subaru stood waiting at the bus station at the foot of the hill where they would view the meteor shower. Against the orange and pink glow of the setting sun, a bus pulled up to the station and three girls the same age as Subaru disembarked.

"Ah! There she is!" a blonde girl with twin pigtails pointed in Subaru's direction and bounded towards her.

Subaru waved back, shouting, "Good evening, Hikaru-chan, Itsuki-chan, and Nanako-chan!"

"Good evening, Subaru-chan!" Itsuki replied, her dark, cropped hair swaying as she walked.

"Bonsoir," Nanako, a lavender-haired girl who had a knack for languages, greeted her in French.

Once the girls joined Subaru under the glow of a street lamp, Nanako held up two heavy plastic bags in her hands, and said in a calm, mature voice, "I brought some snacks in case anyone gets hungry."

Subaru peered inside the bags and gasped when she saw two large plastic lunch boxes packed with homemade rice balls and mini croquettes, as well as cookies, soft drinks and other goodies. "Wow! They look so good! Nanako-chan, did you make all of these?"

Nanako smiled. "The croquettes, yes. My mom taught me how to make them when I visited her in France last year. My little brother is visiting right now, and he's the one who made the rice balls."

"In that case, let's get going, then! The croquettes are going to get soggy if we don't eat them soon!" Hikaru chimed in as she hopped onto the stairs leading up to the viewing platform.

"Hikaru-chan, we're here to look at stars, not eat croquettes," Itsuki teased.

While her friends joked, Subaru looked around and frowned. "Let's wait a little bit longer. Aoi-chan isn't here yet."

Hikaru tilted her head. "Aoi-chan? She's your friend from elementary school, right?"

Subaru nodded, looking down the road for any sign of another bus coming their way. "Yeah. She said she would come today, and she invited a friend of hers to come too."

As Subaru stood on her tiptoes to get a better look, the twin headlights of a bus could be seen approaching them in the last light of dusk.

When the bus came to a stop at the station, Aoi, wearing a light blue and white sports jacket, hopped off and jogged to meet up with Subaru. "Sorry, I was late! I missed the first bus so I had to wait for the next one."

"No worries," Itsuki said. "My name is Itsuki, and this is Nanako-chan and Hikaru-chan," she gestured to the other girls, each of whom waved or nodded their greeting at Aoi. "The three of us are members of the Astronomers' Association along with Subaru-chan. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Uh, hi, nice to meet you guys too," Aoi scratched her head bashfully.

"Kyou-chan didn't come with you, Aoi-chan?" Subaru asked. Overhead, the sun had set and faint streaks of light could already be seen flying through the dark sky.

Aoi shook her head. "She said she's coming, but she's going to be running a bit late. Let me call her and see where she is right now."

Just as Aoi took out her phone, a second bus pulled up to the station and a red-haired girl with a beauty mark below her right eye walked off. Seeing Aoi, she waved, shouting, "Aoi-chan! Hey, sorry I'm late!"

"It's fine," Subaru smiled. "After all, the sun just set, so we still have plenty of time to see the meteor shower."

"That's good. Oh! My name is Kyou, by the way. I'm in the same class as Aoi-chan here."

After the girls had introduced themselves, Hikaru tapped her foot impatiently and gestured up to the platform, "Come on, let's go! Or else the croquettes really are going to get soggy!"

Aoi looked at Hikaru askance as they began their ascent up towards the viewing platform.

Following the trail of neatly paved stone stairs, the girls climbed the first few tiers of stairs in silence, their light summer jackets illuminated in the otherwise pitch black night by the fluorescent light from the street lamps.

After a few minutes, Aoi turned to look back at Kyou and asked quietly, "Were you volunteering at the hospital again today, Kyou?"

Kyou nodded as the many pinpricks of light from their hometown gradually appeared below them as they rounded the side of the hill. "Yup! I'm helping with organizing the blood drive scheduled for next week. Today things took a little longer than I thought, so I ran a bit late."

"But I thought you have to at least be in high school in order to volunteer at the hospital?" Hikaru cut in. "How are you able to work there if you're still in junior high like the rest of us?"

Kyou grinned mischievously. "That is a secret!" she said, winking at the other girls, all of whom looked back at her dubiously. "But if any of you don't have plans for next Wednesday and are looking for something to do, you're more than welcome to help with the blood drive! Even though we're not old enough to donate blood yet, we can still chip in and help out at the event."

Nanako did a quick calculation in her head and said, "But next Wednesday is the day before the Tanabata Festival. Wouldn't the blood drive be competing for attention with the festival that way?"

Kyou shook her head. "Actually, the hospital chose to do the blood drive right before Tanabata on purpose. We want to inspire people to give blood. That's why the motto of the blood drive is: 'Show Your Love! Donate Blood!'"

Hikaru frowned, her arms crossed, "Somehow that just sounds like you're taking advantage of the festival for self-promotion."

Hearing this, Kyou puffed up her cheeks indignantly and retorted, "It's for a good cause! There's a very real shortage of blood and plasma in Japan, so this event is important for the patients!"

Seeing things were starting to get a little heated, Aoi stepped in between Hikaru and Kyou and held out her arms. "Okay! Okay! Come on, you guys, we came here to look at stars! Let's not start arguing before we've even started."

"Aoi-chan's right. Let's enjoy ourselves tonight," Itsuki added diplomatically.

Overhead, a bright streak of light shot past, and the six girls turned their heads up at the heavens.

As they watched, many more shooting stars followed, some lasting no more than the blink of an eye, others drawing a bright streak before vanishing towards the horizon.

"Wow…" Kyou whispered, her argument with Hikaru completely forgotten as she stood, mesmerized, by the meteor shower overhead.

The girls hurried up the final tier of stairs to arrive at the viewing platform. While Subaru set up her telescope the others laid out the picnic blankets that Itsuki and Hikaru had brought. Before long, they had settled down, sipping or nibbling on the snacks Nanako made while Subaru pointed out the various celestial objects in the night sky.

"Over there," she fixed her index finger towards the brightest star in one pocket of the sky, " is the star Altair in the constellation Aquila."

She moved her finger up, towards the right. "That's Vega, the brightest star in the constellation Lyra."

Shifting her finger slightly to the left, Subaru said, "And between them is the star Deneb, in the constellation Cygnus. Together they form the Summer Triangle."

"Altair and Vega are Hikoboshi and Orihime from the legend of Tanabata, right?" Itsuki asked. "And Deneb is the magpie that forms the bridge between them on the Evening of Seventh."

"That's right, Itsuki-chan! Deneb is a blue-white supergiant star thousands of light years away, and is ninteen times the mass of our sun!" Subaru answered enthusiastically. "Here, let me see if I can focus on it."

The pink haired girl adjusted the angle of her telescope, and after a minute said to her friends, "Go ahead, have a look!"

The girls hopped to their feet, and Kyou—who was first in line—turned to Subaru after she had her turn looking through the telescope and asked, "Say, can you take pictures with your telescope?"

"Umm, you could use a T-ring and a T-adaptor to attach a camera to the telescope," Subaru answered, "But I don't have the equipment."

"I see…" Kyou sighed, and sat down on the ground next to Aoi. "That's too bad. It would be great if I could show Nii-san pictures of the stars like we're seeing them now," she said with disappointment as her eyes remained fixed on the Summer Triangle.*

"Your older brother likes astronomy?" Subaru asked, her curiosity piqued.

Kyou nodded, a small smile on her lips. "Yup. He absolutely loves stars. They're his favorite things in the world."

"Then you should bring him next time we go see a meteor shower!" Subaru exclaimed excitedly. "Today is the peak day for the Perseids, but the Orionids meteor shower in October are great too!"

But instead of sharing in Subaru's enthusiasm, Kyou's expression fell, and she said wistfully, "That's not possible."

"Eh? But—"

Before Subaru could voice her thought, Hikaru piped up and asked, "Subaru, if this is called the Perseids meteor shower, does that mean we'll be able to see the constellation Perseus tonight too?"

"Ah, about that…" Subaru glanced back at Kyou, but she was now talking with Aoi.

Not wanting to interrupt, Subaru turned back to Hikaru. But in the back of her mind she wondered what Kyou had meant by those words.

A/N

*September Perseids: I didn't realize this at first, but the meteor shower Subaru went to see at the beginning and end of the anime isn't the famous Perseids, but was in fact the smaller September Perseids (aka September Epsilon Perseids). The famous Perseids meteor shower occurs between mid-July to late-August, which would be during summer vacation for students in Japan. By the time the girls are back in school in September it would already be over. But the September Perseids, as its name implies, occurs in the month of September, and is dimmer and less dramatic than its summer counterpart.

*Nii-san: a Japanese term for older brother.

Thanks to Tomoyo Ichijouji for beta-ing and proofreading!