"Nice jacket!" Ariel confirms. "I like the skeleton garden. And all the other ones."

"Thanks! I've been collecting them for a while now."

"They're really cool. The cherry blossom one is cute - because it's a sakura, right? I only really know the connection because of anime, which is maybe a little embarrassing."

"Yeah. It's maybe a bit silly, but I actually do like the flowers..."

"I don't think it's silly at all! I think it's nice having something your name actually means, and having it be something interesting is even better. Ariel means lion of God in Hebrew, I always have to explain that when people think I'm named after the Little Mermaid."

She laughs. "That'd get annoying! I like the original tale, actually, but yeah the actual meaning's more distinguished."

"Yeah, definitely. I don't even mind the movie, it's cute! Just, I don't think that's what was on Mom's mind when she named me."

She bites her lip for a second. "By the way, this is gonna sound a little bit out of nowhere, but do you want to come to the mall with me after school? I've gotta get some new clothes, and I always feel kinda weird going to the mall alone. Mall visits should be cheerful wandersome occasions with friends."

"Only if we invite one of my friends - she's a big mall junkie, and will pout at me if I don't take her along."

“That’s no problem at all! More the merrier, and all that."

Ariel looks around for more topics of conversation. Her eyes fall on the napping girl-

- last night, she had a dream - a nightmare - she was watching as a girl - that girl - fought against insurmountable odds - something big - something without mercy or remorse - she stood on a precipice, watching her fight, and a creature said to her, You can change this, you have the power to change it - the girl looked at her, full of despair - Make a contract with me, and become a magical girl! -

- the moment is over. She shivers. "Whoa."

"Something up?"

"Just got- déjà vu or something. My brain's trying to tell me I had a dream about that girl with the orange backpack last night, which doesn't seem super probable given I've never seen her before in my life."

"Huh. Brains are weird, yeah."

"I know! When I was younger-"

The bell rings. Ariel shakes her head. "Damn, I totally lost track of time. Should we exchange numbers or something, for the mall thing?"

"Yeah!" She scribbles hers down on a scrap piece of notebook paper.

Ariel does the same, picks up her backpack, and sets off, with one last look at the girl with the orange backpack.

Girl with the orange backpack heads off for class a bit after her, apparently not noticing her at all.

It would probably be weird for Ariel to feel slightly disappointed by that.

She's slightly more distracted than she already was, during her afternoon classes, trying to pin down the details from her dream. She doesn't usually care about her dreams, but they're not usually this weird, or this coherent. What was that thing the other girl was fighting? What was that creature that was talking to Ariel? Why was she so hesitant to take its offer?

After school, she uses her phone to triangulate the location of both Sakura and the mall, and they meet up. "Hey there!"

Sakura has a friend with her, a girl wearing a purple halter top, white tank top, and purple shorts, with her platinum blond hair pulled into a high ponytail.

"Hey!" Sakura says. "This's Anna, the friend I was telling you about."

"Hiya. Ariel, right?" Anna says, sticking her hand out with a grin.

"That's me!" Ariel gives her a firm handshake. "Nice to meet you, Anna, I've heard nothing but good things about you."

Anna laughs. "Sakura mostly just said you're a friendly sort and seemed promising," she says, chipper.

Sakura rolls her eyes. "Come on. You needed clothes, right, Ariel? Got a planned price range and budget and all?"

"Clothes, yeah." She lays out a price range and budget that would be reasonable for an average teenage girl with reasonably permissive parents, which she is not.

"We know some good places for that all, yeah."