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Ko opened her eyes.
Before her, a beautiful lake stretched as far as she could see. The water shimmered like a sea of crystals, the sun reflecting off of them in the most perfect way. A gentle breeze blew, lightly rocking the leaves of all the tall green trees. Ko smiled, breathing in the fresh air.
Waking up to nature was one of the best sensations in the world. That she didn't remember coming to this lake didn't really matter, because she knew she'd find her way back. Maybe she'd taken a trip to ease her nerves? Or perhaps she was just in the mood for a midsummer nap. Either way, it was nice.
"Hey!" An unfamiliar voice called out to her--she turned onto her back, glancing in its general direction. A park ranger?
"Hi," Ko said back, softly.
"Hey," the girl repeated, strangely out of breath. She brushed her blonde hair out of her face, jogging the rest of the way to Ko and looking down at her with surprisingly hard eyes. One thing was for sure--this girl was too young and too good-looking to be a park ranger. "Who are you? Where are we?"
Ko glanced back at the water, then up at the girl. "...A lake. Why?"
The girl stomped her foot, huffing. "Well, duh. What lake? I'm freaking out here, alright? I don't have any idea where I am, my stuff's missing, I've been wandering here for who knows how long and you're the first person I've found so tell me where we are, d*mmit!"
Her stuff is missing?
Experimentally, Ko tucked a hand into her own pocket--it was empty. She blinked, checking her other pocket, back pockets, and where her purse should've been, but everything was gone. Speaking of, did she even recognize this lake?
Ko glanced around, scanning the local shrubbery. No. No, I don't recognize this place...
Becoming more and more alarmed the longer she thought about it, Ko slowly rose to her feet, willing several different reasonable explanations to pop into her head.
"Hello? Are you even listening?" The girl asked impatiently.
"I'm listening," Ko said meekly. "I don't know what's going on either. Have you seen any buildings? Maybe a center for this reserve?"
"Reserve?" She echoed. "What's that?"
"A nature reserve," Ko explained, walking forward. The grass crunched beneath her feet. "They're meant to protect places with a lot of greenery, like this. I guess I shouldn't assume that's what this is...have you seen any buildings? Or maybe a path?"
The girl followed behind Ko, hands on her hips. "What? No. If I'd seen a building, I would've gone into it, dummy. Are you even listening to me?"
"Yes," Ko said. She paused, glancing around once more. "Um...which way did you come from? If you haven't seen any buildings yet, we should go the other way."
"That way," the girl said, gesturing to the left. She started toward the right. "So we go this way. Do you have a name, weirdo?"
Weirdo? Ko sighed slightly. "Takena--uhm. My name is Ko Takenaka."
Now leading the way, the girl nodded. "Cool. I'm...Setsuko. Let's try to find someplace or some other people before I get bored of you."