"Princess…"

Hm?

"Princess, it’s time to wake up."

Huh? Who is that?

"Wake up. Wake up."

Wake up… Is this a dream?

….

"Makocchi! Makocchi, wake up!" I felt someone shaking me and woke up from my nap. I found myself on the couch with Nana and Miki beside me.

"Are? How long was I asleep?"

"Only about 30 minutes." Nana said, looking at her watch. "I was timing your nap."

OK, that’s not at all weird.

"You looked so cute, Makocchi. What were you dreaming about?"

"Eh?"

Oh, yeah. That dream… What was it?

"Princess…"

Huh? That’s all I can remember. Someone was calling to me, I don’t know who. And they called me “princess”.

Who was that?

"You alright, Mako?"

"Uh, yeah, I’m fine. I just can’t remember it right now, the dream."

"Well, you better get ready, because we need to go soon. We have to meet up with Mariko-san to start our next training."

"Right."

…..

Day 2 (Magic training)

We went into the training room and saw Ayaka standing there with another woman. What I noticed was Ayaka wearing a strange uniform.

"Umeda-san, those clothes."

"You like?" She was wearing a robe that looked like something Abe no Seimei would wear, and her hair tied up in a ponytail with a purple ribbon.

"You look so cute!"

"Yeah, like an onmyoji. Wait, you ARE an onmyoji! Haha."

"This uniform was handed down from my great, great grandpa Abe himself. Look…" She turned around and showed us the *Yin and Yang symbol stitched on the back of the uniform.

"That’s so cool."

"The Siamese twins and the *Pentagram are both used in *onmyodo, an ancient form of exorcism us onmyoji use."

"So, who is this?" Meru pointed at the woman beside her.

"Ah, right, I forgot to introduce her. This is Kuramochi Asuka, she’s a mage in training."

"Call me Mocchi." she said with a smile.

She’s a mage, huh? She’s really pretty.

"Why thank you."

"Eh?!" Did she hear my thoughts?

She walked over to me and smiled.

"Sorry, Mako-chan. I just couldn’t help myself when I heard you complementing me."

"Asuka has the power to read minds."

"Ah, alright. Sorry, that just kinda scared me…"

I suddenly felt a tug at my ears. Before I knew it, Asuka was hugging me from behind while nibbling my ear a bit.

"Eh?"

"Your ears are so cute~"

Mariko chuckled. “Oh, yeah. I forgot to mention. Asuka also has an ear .”

"Before we start training, I wanna feel of everyone’s ears!"

"EHH?!"

A few hours later…

"Alright, alright, now back to the important business."

We sat down as Mariko stood in front of a monitor again. The lights went out and a picture of a glowing black crystal appeared.

"Just like the Heart fragments of Muse that you all have, the Akuma possess crystals known as *Chaos gems."

"How are our Heart fragments similar to those?" Mio asked, looking at her ring.

"The Chaos gems are Heart fragments of the Demon king, the Maou. However, these Chaos gems produce negative, dark energy, where as yours produce positive, light energy."

"And I’m guessing this dark energy is the source of their powers," Ryouha said.

"That’s right."

The screen changed and showed a few figures that looked like people.

"If a person gets too close to a Chaos gem, they can become influenced by the negative energy into doing bad things."

"So, that means, our gems are protecting us from the bad energy."

"Yes. However, since the Akuma are able to control that dark energy, they have the ability to manipulate people’s hearts." The screen showed the symbol of a heart, surrounded by a black aura.

Ayaka spoke behind us, “They can become stronger when they control people’s hearts, so that’s why we need to protect people.”

"The only way to counteract it is using strong light energy waves to lift the dark auras from people’s hearts. And we found that there’s a way to do that and restore multiple hearts at one time."

"And that is?"

"A live performance."

The next slide came on and showed what I think was us, performing on stage.

Honestly, it was 2D figures with our faces photoshopped on the heads.

"We found that the wavelength patterns are the same as speakers’ wavelengths, and the power of the Heart fragments increase with the added wavelength."

"And that’s why you needed idols."

"Yes. Your singing also affects the wavelengths, and when more than one person with the heart fragments sing, it creates a powerful energy that wipes out the negative energy of the Chaos gems."

MIki cheered, “That’s so cool!”

"We’re gonna be so awesome!" Meru and Miki had a bit of a geeky moment as we watched them and giggled a bit.

"But…"

"Eh?"

"We need to go through training, because we need to learn the limits of your powers and find out how to control them."

Hm… I guess she’s right.

I wouldn’t want to blow up or something on the first try.

"Well, I think we should get this training session started," Asuka sounded.

They showed us an empty training room so that we could find out what our powers were, and we wouldn’t destroy anything.

Since we had to go one at a time, we each took turns going in and started training. Nana was the first one in.

"Okay, Nana-chan, just focus and let your powers out."

"Hai!"

We all watched as Nana gently closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. I could see some wind was actually starting to form, circling her.

She spun a couple of times and sliced the wind with her finger, cutting a few scratches on the targets. She also played with the wind a bit and created orbs of air spinning rapidly in her palms.

Miki yelled out, “Hey, Nana, ride on it!”

I thought she was going to get distracted and stop, but then she took a large sphere and started riding on it, circling the room as she stood on one foot.

"Sugoi~!"

"Nana is doing it so seriously."

"That’s awesome!"

When she looked up, she was giving a funny look to us. I thought maybe something was wrong, but she said she just thought she saw something.

Miki was next up. She was so excited, she put a lot of energy into it…

Maybe a bit too much energy.

*BOOM*

"Eh?" Her power was lightning, apparently.

I was worried this would happen…

But Mariko said she actually did good if she could blow up and survive the blast.

When she came back, we all had to help dust her off, and then Mio was up next. She didn’t exactly know what to do, and was trying to think, but she kept getting distracted.

Since her mind was drifting off and she couldn’t concentrate, Mariko decided to end training early. Then, Mio saw a wilted flower pot.

"Aw~ The poor thing." She ran up and looked at the plant sadly. She touched the dry petals and that’s when something occurred.

The flower slowly started rising up, and the color was coming back. The green stem stood straight and tall with fresh leaves, and a beautiful, blooming pink flower.

"Uwa~ that’s so pretty, Mio-pyon." Meru said, beaming. "That’s you power. You can bring dead flowers back to life."

"Ehehe, I guess so…"

"Meru wants to go next!" Meru ran in jumping up and down excitedly.

She went right up to a punching bag and started hitting it a bunch of times. Then, she threw one punch and fire surrounded her hands.

She kept punching the air as fire burst out of her fists. She even threw a fireball and burnt a target. As a result, the sprinklers went off in the room and she had to leave so she could dry off.

Nagisa was up next, and when she stepped in, she saw the puddles and thought of something.

Concentrating on the puddle of water, she focused her powers and let out a loud scream.

We were surprised to see she was making the water rise up and control it. She gathered it up and circled it around her, not getting a drop on her. The whirlpool moved up and she spread it out beautifully.

She was sparkling, like a true idol.

Ryouha went after her and she was going through things briskly. She had the power to control earth, and was able to create large walls of rock to protect her.

Mariko started up a few stimulations for her to test them out. She made large boulders and hit the targets, smashing them, and created barriers to protect her from getting hit by anything.

"Ryouha-tan’s really good."

"She really looks strong. I’ve never seen her like this."

Hm… I wonder if I can be like that.

"Alright, Mako, you’re the last one."

"Okay."

I walked in and heard the others cheer for me as the door closed.

"Alright, Mako. Begin."

I was so nervous, my heart was pounding. I took a few deep breaths to calm my heartbeat and closed my eyes.

I tried my hardest to concentrate and awaken my powers, but I didn’t feel anything. I tried harder and harder, still hearing everyone’s cheering.

"Ganbare, Makocchi!"

"Don’t force it. Just let it flow naturally."

Naturally… Got it.

I calmed myself and relaxed again, holding my chest. I drowned everything out and silence surrounded me.

I felt something warm in my chest. I couldn’t help but smile, it was making me feel so happy. My heart was fluttering rapidly and I felt so light. It didn’t even feel like I was touching the ground.

I slowly opened my eyes and saw I was actually levitating, only a few inches off the ground. There was a red aura surrounding me.

But it didn’t last long as it faded away and I stood back on the ground. I sighed, disappointed that my powers didn’t work for too long.

"Don’t worry, Mako," Mariko said reassuringly. "It will take time. Just let your powers develop slowly and don’t get depressed."

"Right. No need to be discouraged."

"That’s right."

…..

Mariko looked through her shelves in her dark office. Turning on her desk light, she took one of them and started reading through it.

It was a book about the history of Queen Muse and when she ruled her kingdom. She had knights who protected her, assistants who would serve her people in the kingdom, and a daughter who was about to be crowned princess.

She remembered the coronation, how beautiful the princess looked standing there.

Her tears fell on the pages as she remembered the attack. Seeing everyone fallen, and the princess dead. She couldn’t protect them, and now is her last chance.

"You know what you did was wrong," a voice sounded from behind. Kyoya appeared from the shadows.

"I just wanted to save her."

"There are still many things to prepare, Mariko. You have much to do." He turned and started leaving. "We must hurry."

Mariko sighed as she wiped away her salty tears.

"I know."

…..

Even after training was done, I continued to practice and try to find out what my powers were.

I was growing tired and decided to lay down, sighing as I felt a bit of relief.

We’ve all been working so hard and our debut concert is tomorrow. I’m going to do my absolute best.

I curled up on my couch and started falling asleep…

….

"Princess…"

Ah, that voice again…

Who is that? She sounds so familiar.

"Princess, wake up."

"No… Let me sleep.. five more minutes…"

"Come on. Today’s the big day."

Big day… Ah, the live. That’s right. We debut…

"Princess."

Wait, that voice… is that…

Mariko?

"Come now. We need to hurry. We don’t have much time before the celebration."

Celebration? Is there a party?

"Princess… Princess…"

….

Wait… what time is it?!

My eyes snapped open and I looked at my clock…

"I’m late!"

Since there was no time, I just ran out in the clothes I was wearing and hurried to the agency building.

"OHAYOU GOZAIMASU!!!" I screamed as I burst through the door.

Silence.

"I’m so sorry I’m la—" I looked and saw everyone was so serious. The atmosphere seemed tense. "What’s wrong?"

I noticed Mio and Meru were both gone. Yuko told me they had to go to a school ceremony for about a week and went to Fukuoka.

But, Mariko also wasn’t here. Around this time, I thought she would’ve made it. Then, Miki handed me a letter that was on Mariko’s desk.

"Sorry, everyone. I have some important business to take care of, so I have to leave Tokyo for a while. Yuko, take care of the girls. I’m counting on all of you. -Mariko”

"She’s… gone?"

=======================

Footnotes

*1. Siamese Twins (Side note: Alternate name; Yin and Yang) - Spiritual beings often told in Asian folklore. Yin represents darkness, Yang represents light, and the two together form equal balance between both.

*2. Pentagram - A magic symbol used in ancient spells and witchcraft. Each point of the star represents the five elements(Fire, Water, Earth, Air, and Spiritual energy.)

*3. Onmyoudo - An ancient form of exorcism used by onmyouji.

*4. Chaos gems - The Heart fragments of the Maou. They were created after he was sealed away and lost his physical form. Unlike Muse’s Heart fragments, which produce positive light energy, the Chaos gems produce negative dark energy, which can influence and manipulate people into doing bad.