“Mako…”

Hm… who are you?

“The Crystal. Save the Crystal…”

The.. what? You mean… the Crystal of Life..?

“Hurry. Save the Crystal.”

How? What can I..?

…..

“..ko! Mako!”

My eyes shot open as I got up from the couch, holding my chest.

“What happened?”

“You suddenly fainted.”

I looked in my hand and saw I was still holding onto the protection charm tightly.

“You were only out for a few minutes. Mariko’s magic is very strong. It protected you.”

“Souka…” I feel like it was more than that, though.

“You kept mumbling something while you were unconscious,” Nana said. “About something called ‘the Crystal of Life’.”

That’s right. Now that I think about it, I remember someone saying that.

“Miichan..?”

Miichan had sighed and had everyone re-gather in the center of the room, all sitting down.

“You see, our purpose is not just to protect the Heart fragments of the Muse-sama. We have one more, very important mission.”

“And that is?”

“I’ll explain from the beginning. Before her heart was shattered into Heart fragments we have now, Mariko, Yuko, as well as me, were servants of Queen Muse-sama. We lived in her kingdom, *Eterna, the realm of the *Light of Hope.”

“Eterna?”

“Muse was the first used of a powerful magic known as the *Light of Mana, which she used to tap into the core of all light and life in her realm. The Crystal of Life. It was something only powerful magicians or Gods like her could master.”

“And are these Heart fragments of ours powered by *Mana, too?”

“All magical items are. But the most powerful source of Mana came from the Light of Hope itself.”

“Wow…”

“Back to the Queen, she knew that one day, she would have to give up her throne, and needed someone to look after her kingdom when she had gone.”

“So what did she do?”

“She fell in love with a human. A man from Earth.”

“Did they get married?”

“Yes. Their love actually ended a war between the *Light angels of Eterna and the humans of Earth, which was once one country thousands of years ago. So, they married and ended the feud, creating a long and eternal peace between both of our worlds.”

“That’s amazing.”

“Wait, you mentioned earlier there was a princess… So…”

“Yes. Muse had a daughter.”

“Kyaa~”

“Her name was *Hikari, which meant ‘light’. She was the one chosen to inherit the power of the Crystal of Life and become the new Queen.”

“What happened?”

“The Maou attacked… and he killed everyone. Including the princess.”

“Oh God…”

“The Queen sacrificed her own heart to seal away the Maou in Hell, and she hid the Crystal in a secret location where no one could find it.”

“Do you know where it is?”

“No… The only ones who were allowed to know where the Senate.”

“Ah…”

“Anyways,” Miichan stood up. “We need to find the reincarnation of Princess Hikari, as well as the Crystal of Life, and protect her before the Akuma get to her.”

“But who is she?”

Miichan looked at me, a tinge of sadness seemed to be in her eyes.

“Mako… I felt a strange aura around your friend, Nana.”

“Naanya?”

“Have you considered that she may be hiding something from you?”

What..? I…

“If you found out I had a secret, would you hate me?”

Is that what she meant? Is she hiding something from me?

“Mako?”

“Well… I don’t know. But, I don’t think so.”

“Eh?”

“There’s no way Naanya would keep such secrets like that from me. She would tell me. I would do the same for her…”

“Really?” She came closer and gave me a serious look. “You would tell her about your powers?”

I looked down at my ring and thought about it.

“If I really needed to… yes, I would.”

Miichan remained silent for a few seconds, thinking of something. Then, she turned back to us.

“Putting that aside, for now… If we’re going to protect the Princess, we need to power up.”

“Power up?!”

“Awesome!”

“Yes. This situation calls for only one thing; *Rainbow Prism.”

…..

Mocchi opened the door to a special room where in the center, there was a giant crystal pillar.

“Is that it?”

“Yup. That’s Rainbow Prism. It powers all of our Mana. And we can use it to increase the power of your Heart fragments.” Mocchi said.

“Did you call Yukirin?”

“She should be here soon.”

“Good. She can help us.”

“Kashiwagi-san is coming here?”

“Yup. She’s a very talented mage. I’ve never seen someone do magic like her.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, but…” Miichan giggled nervously. “Let’s just say, she can be a bit black-hearted.”

“Eh?”

Just then, the door opened.

“Ah, no wonder I sneezed,” a voice rose. “Were you talking about me again, Miichan?”

“Haha, sorry, Yukirin.”

Ah, that’s Kashiwagi Yuki…

Yuki rubbed her nose and entered the room. Behind her, there was a young girl with short, brown hair.

“Hi~”

“Akicha. This is a surprise.”

“Mocchi said she wanted us and Mocchi to power the Rainbow Prism again, so I wanted to join.”

“Girls,” Mocchi started, “This is Takajo Aki. She’s another mage just like me and Yukirin.”

Are? This trio is…

“French Kiss!”

“Yes,” Akicha said.

“Me, Akicha, and…”

“Hai. Awake or asleep, it’s Yukirin World. I’ll put you in a daze,” she said with a wink.

“Uwaa~ Kawaii~”

“It’s nice to finally meet you girls.”

As she walked towards the group, Miichan pulled me back and whispered in my ear, “Yukirin has the tendency to use her magic constantly, so be careful.”

“Eh?”

“Makocchi, come ‘ere~!” Miki called out.

“Coming~.” I walked over and held out my hand towards Yuki. “Nice to meet you, Kashiwagi-san, Takajo-san.”

“You must be Mako. Nice to meet you,” Yuki grasped my hands, smiling at me. “I hope you and I can get along from now on.”

She winked again and I simply nodded, smiling.

“Me too. You seem really nice, Kashiwagi-san.”

She looked at me confused, letting go of my hand.

“What’s wrong?”

“Ah, nothing. I just think you’re cute is all.” She giggled and winked again.

“Hehe, you wink a lot, don’t you?”

“Ah…” Yuki’s smile disappeared again as she backed away. I heard her say something under her breath. “That’s weird… Why isn’t it working?”

“What?”

“Oh, nothing. Now then, about the Rainbow Prism, uh… Akicha?”

We looked behind us and saw Aki was showing the others pictures on her phone.

“You’ve been to Indonesia?!”

“Un. I was working in Jakarta for a long time.”

“Your puppy is so cute~~~”

“Yeah, what’s her name?”

“Mari.”

“That’s so cute~.”

“And… this is when we went to Singapore.”

“Woah, that’s amazing!”

“What the HECK is that?!”

“It’s called a *Merlion. I think it’s supposed to be a mermaid, but they made the top half a lion instead of a human.”

“Maji de?!”

“Un. And then, this was when I went to Vancouver and—kya!” She was interrupted when Mocchi suddenly came up from behind and bit her ear. “Mocchi! I told you, stop biting my ears!”

“But they’re so cute~~~”

“Stop~!”

Miichan cleared and calmed the two down.

“Alright, you three, we’ve still got some important stuff to do, remember?”

“Hai~.” Akicha and Mocchi walked behind the prism, along with Yuki.

“Once the light beam comes over on your side, hold up your rings.”

“Okay!”

We all stood in front of the crystal and held up our rings in front of it.

“Here it comes!”

“Hai!”

We saw a bright flash form from behind and shined in the crystal prism, making it sparkle.

*“Crystal Luxra!”

Seven lights shot out and entered our Heart fragments. Once mine entered the crystal fragment, I felt a warm feeling enveloping me.

Could this be… the Rainbow Prism’s power?

The light eventually went away and I saw my ring shining with a new light. It also seemed to had changed form from normal. The tips holding the gem had curved and wrapped around it, gold and silver mixed together.

“That should do it.” Yuki said as she and the others came out from behind the prism.

“Thanks, girls.”

“How does it feel? Any different?”

“Hm… it does feel a little different.”

“Trust us, you’ll be able to do some really cool stuff with the Rainbow Prism’s power connected to it.”

Just then, I felt a pulse.

“Oh no…”

“It’s an Akuma!”

We all felt a large rumbling under our feet.

“To the roof!”

…..

We all got up to the roof and there I saw the Akuma was a large man. He was watching over Tokyo as a huge shadow was attacking people below.

“Haa~ it’s you, Nagato.”

“Hehe, so you’re going to try and defeat me again?” he chuckled. “I’ll just warn you now. I’ve gotten stronger!”

He summoned another shadow in front of us.

The seven of us transformed and summoned our weapons to attack it. However, we saw that it was as solid as rock and couldn’t be cut through.

“See, not as easy as you think.”

We kept attacking as much as we could, but it wasn’t doing anything.

“Guys, help us!”

“Wakatta! Yukirin!”

“Eh?”

“Nagato-kun~~~” We all looked and saw Yuki approach the large man.

“Huh?”

“Nee, why are you being so mean?”

“Ah… Uh, well…”

“If you ease up on us, just a little bit, I’ll give you a reward~.”

Nagato’s face was blushed red, his monster seems to has eased up on us, too. It must be connected with his emotions to become strong.

I slashed its chest and knocked it down.

“Sugoi~” Miki looked back over at Yuki, still using her charm to soften Nagato up. “Who would have thought?”

“Nagato has a huge crush on Yukirin,” Miichan spoke.

“EEEEEH?!”

“Seriously?!”

“Dang, she really is black-hearted then.”

That must be what Miichan meant earlier. Yuki uses her magic frequently to charm her fans. Does that mean, she was trying to use it on me, too?

“Why didn’t it work..?”

If that’s what she was doing, then it seemed to have not affected me. Maybe that’s because I have strong magic, too.

“Girls, finish him off!”

“Right!”

A bright light shone from the rings, shining rainbow colored like the prism. I held it against the pendant on my chest and a *wand appeared, the top shaped like a closed bloom. Inside it were small spheres, each the same as our colors.

“Is this our new weapon?”

“This is the Rainbow Prism’s power it gave to you. Hold the wands up and gather your power into it.”

“Hai!”

I closed my eyes and felt myself focusing all my power into my ring. I didn’t even realize I was saying soft spells to myself…

Just then, a bright light flashed and the blooms on our wands opened up, revealing a crystal prism in the center. It lighted up with each of our colors and formed a giant rainbow colored energy.

*“Erande Rainbow!!!”

The light shot at the shadow and Nagato. The shadow disappeared into the light and Nagato fled before he could be completely consumed.

As the light calmed down and the wand disappeared into my pendant, I fell to one of my knees and held my chest, feeling tired.

“Uwaa… what was that?”

“I feel so drained…”

“Erande Rainbow takes a bit more energy from your Mana, so you may need to get used to feeling tired after using the attack.”

“Alright…”

“Everyone is okay~” Aki said happily as she saw everyone down below. “Hi~~~”

The crowd cheered as the three of them waved to them below.

“Oh yeah, that was today…” Miichan said.

“What?”

“French Kiss concert.”

…..

“And now, French Kiss!”

“WHOOOOOO!!!”

We cheered with the crowd as the song started and the three appeared on the stage, dancing to the music as we chanted along with the audience.

Kimi to saisho atta toki iya na kanji datta darou?
Boku wa kami ga kimaranakute
Chotto fukigen data

“I can’t believe you got us special tickets to their concert!”

“Yeah! Super sweet, Miichan!”

“I just HAD to bring you guys to see this. If you observe our other groups in the agency, you’ll be able to get a look at what us pros are like.”

Mawari no tomodachi wa awatete nanika GYAGU wo itteta yo ne
Hottoite hoshikatta kara
Kimi to boku wa SOPPO muita

“Ah, that’s right, you should take us to a No Sleeves concert next time!”

“Eh?”

“I totally wanna see you in action, Miichan!”

“Mako…” she smiled at me. “Alright, next time for sure!”

“Yatta~”

Datte suki nante ienai jan
Ano hi no boku wa
Koi nanka suru kibun janakatta

Datte imasara donna kao wo e
arekara kimi wo
Wasurerarenai nante ieru ka yo?
KAKKOwarui
I love you!

“I love you!” I couldn’t help sing along with it. I love idols, and I love singing.

And just as I expected, they were shining.

I wonder if I’ve ever shined this bright? Or brighter?

…..

“Nagato! You are weak!” The Demon King yelled as his servant bowed before him.

“I’m sorry, my King. I was tricked by that black-hearted mage…”

“Have you fallen for a human, Nagato?”

“No, sire.”

The Demon King growled and surrounded Nagato in purple fire, causing him to scream. His muscles grew and his eyes glowed red.

“You will not be tainted by the light of those girls again. Understood?”

“Yes… I am strong! HAHAHAHAHA!”

…..

I met her again. In my dreams. She and I were running together in the fields, her hand holding mine.

There were more people. They all look so familiar. Where have I seen them? They all look so happy, and I just can’t help but smile.

“Everyone!”

I ran down the hill and hugged everyone as we all laid down in the field. This place feels so safe, so serene. We all played here, together.

This all feels so familiar… Why do I..?

“Nee-chan.”

I looked behind me, but instead of the girl who was always with me, I saw an older girl. The same person who saved me in the mirror.

“You…”

“I’m sorry, nee-chan.”

“Nee… chan?”

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

Footnotes

*1. Eterna - A realm just outside of Earth. It is known as the realm of the Light of Hope. Before the Queen, Muse, married a human male, the only inhabitants were angels. They were at a feud with Earth, but the war stopped after Muse’s marriage.

*2. The Light of Hope - A powerful light which is said to guide souls to Heaven after death.

*3. Light of Mana - The first and purest form of magic. Muse was the first master it and used it to create the Light of Hope and the Crystal of Life.

*4. Mana - Magical energy.

*5. Light angels - Angels who inhabited Eterna. They are masters of Light magic.

*6. Princess Hikari - The daughter of Queen Muse and princess of Eterna. She was to inherit the Crystal and become the next Queen, but was killed by the Maou. It is unknown if she has any siblings.

*7. Rainbow Prism - A giant crystal that connects the realm of Eterna and Earth.

*8. Merlion - A giant statue in Singapore that is said to represent a mermaid.

*9. “Crystal Luxra” - A spell that activates the Rainbow Prism.

*10. Crystal Wands - Special magic wands powered by the Rainbow Prism.

*11. “Erande Rainbow” - A spell that can only be cast with the Crystal Wands. It uses up more Mana than most spells.