"Itai…"

"Ah. Sorry, lil’ lady." I hear an Osaka accent. "I didn’t see ya there."

I rubbed my eyes and saw the person on top of me. She was wearing a dark blue jacket with white linings over her shirt, and a red ribbon with a red plaid skirt.

She also had a greyish hat on with a pom-pom on top, and a red line going all the way around the bottom of it.

"Wait… who are you?"

"I was about to ask the same question."

"My name’s Nagisa. Shibuya Nagisa. I’m one of the newest idols joinin’ the Akihabara48 talent agency."

"Eh?"

The girl took my hand and helped me back up to my feet, brushing off her legs and dark red boots.

"So, who’re you?"

"Kojima… Mako. I’m an idol at this agency, too."

"Really?" Nagisa smiled at me, then thought of something a bit. "Wait… could it be, you’re part of a new unit?"

"Y-yes. Why?"

"Cuz, there are some more people in here who are part of it, too."

Curious, I went inside the room and saw there were three other girls.

Two of them, wearing matching uniforms of white jackets and pink ribbons and skirts, and another wearing a grey sailor-fuku with a white sailor cape and dark green tie.

These four… and us… makes seven members!

"Who knew, huh?" Nagisa said as she hugged me from behind. "We’re all buddies~."

"Uh… there’s two more that aren’t here yet."

"Heh~, two more, huh? I can’t wait to meet ‘em."

I nodded and went up to the two girls in the pink uniforms, who were right now playing a card game.

"Oh, hi."

"You must be one of the new members."

"Uh, yeah. What school are you two from?"

"We’re from *Hakata Sakura-joshi High in Fukuoka."

"Fukuoka? That’s a long way from here."

"I’m Mio," said the girl with short hair as she smiled and showed a cute fang. "And this is Meru."

"Nice to meet you. I’m Mako."

"Hey, that’s a pretty ring," Meru said, pointing at my finger.

"Yeah, where’d you get it?"

"Oh, this. Mariko-san gave it to me after I joined the agency."

"Eh~? We didn’t get rings!"

"That’s unfair~."

"I’m jealous of you, Mako-chan."

Eh? They didn’t get rings. But, I thought since they were joining…

I looked and saw the other girl, sitting on one of the smaller couches and reading a book.

She didn’t come up to speak at all, or even just look at us.

Is she shy?

I decided maybe I should start the conversation, so I walked towards her and tapped her shoulder.

"Hey…" But then, she lowered her head to cover her face with her hair a bit. "Uh… are you..?"

"…."

"Um, I’m Mako."

She nodded, turning her head away from me a bit.

"What’s your name?"

”..Ki… K-Kitagawa… Ryouha…”

"Ryouha? OK. So, can I call you Ryou-chan?" I tried facing her so I could see her, but it didn’t help much. "Mm… How old are you?"

She finally turned and faced me, brushing some of her hair back behind her ear.

”..F-fifteen.”

"Oh, I’m sixteen."

Nagisa jumped on me again. “I’m seventeen!”

"Really? So you’re the oldest, then."

"Yup. Mio said she’s fifteen, but she’s gonna turn sixteen pretty soon, right?"

"Yea. And Meru-chan’s fourteen."

"Eh~?"

"Youngster! She’s a total youngster."

"Tashima-san is the youngest, huh? I thought Mio was…" said Ryouha, shyly.

"I thought Miki was." I said.

"Miki?"

"She passed the auditions with me and Nana. The two of them should be here pretty soon. You’ll like them."

"Are they nice?"

"Yeah. Miki’s really cute, and Nana is very caring."

"Can’t wait to meet them…"

After a few minutes of settling in with the others, Nana and Miki finally came. I introduced them to the others and they happily greeted them.

Then, Mio gathered her cards up and we all started a new game as we waited.

We all talked about what school’s we were from and what happened during our auditions.

Nagisa goes to a school in Osaka, and Ryouha goes to a private school in Nagoya. They still didn’t seem to know why they were chosen, more importantly, they weren’t told about the rings or powers we have.

I wonder why no one told them…

…..

An hour later…

After an hour of waiting, the door finally opened and Mariko came in.

"Morning, girls."

"Morning~!"

"I brought snacks." She helped up a plastic grocery bag that had some chips and sweets in it.

As we ate some of them, since we were here for a while, Mariko settled into her office and smiled as she watched us.

I did, too. Everyone was happily eating.

Mio and Meru were fighting over a *melonpan, Ryouha was quietly eating yogurt, Nagisa rambled on about some *manzai event she went to while eating chips, and Miki cheerfully ate an ice cream bar.

"Alright, so first order of business. Mako, Miki, Nana, I’m sure you’ve met the others."

"Yeah. They’re really nice."

"I’m glad you all are getting along. Now, as for our newest additions…"

She got out a black case and pulled out a few smaller boxes. I recognized the shape and size.

Are those…?

"These are for you." She handed the four each a box and smiled.

They opened them, and…

"Uwa! Rings!"

"Woah, they look just like the ones Mako-chan and them have!"

"We get our own rings."

"They’re so pretty~!"

Ryouha’s ring had a green emerald, Nagisa’s was a deep ocean blue, kind of sapphire gem, Mio’s was a pink diamond, and Meru’s was an orange citrine.

"Mako, being the leader of the group, would you like to tell them about the rings?"

"Eh? Mako-chan, you’re the leader!"

"That’s so cool~!"

"So what about the rings?"

"U-uhh…" I looked down at my own ring, staring at the ruby gem. "Well…"

Just before I could say anything, there was a huge crash from somewhere.

"What was that?!"

"Oh no, not now. Girls, come with me! We’re going to the roof!"

"EH?!"

…..

We ran up the stairs hurriedly to the roof. When we got up there, the sight shocked us.

There was a person I’ve never seen before, a young man with white hair, and standing behind him was a giant silver wolf.

The wolf had strange markings on it and glowing yellow eyes. There were also long chains tightly wrapped around its body.

"Kaiba…" Mariko growled as she stared at him.

"Long time, no see, Mari-chan. Oh, and who are these cute little ladies? Perhaps you’re newest recruits?"

"What are you doing here?"

"I’ve come to take the *Heart fragments."

"You won’t get them!"

"Oh…" He snapped his fingers and the chains that wrapped around the wolf’s body broke off. "I beg to differ."

The wolf roared loudly and ran up to us.

"KYAAAAAA!!!"

We covered our eyes and screamed loudly, but we didn’t feel anything come. When I opened my eyes and looked, the first thing I saw was…

Mariko creating a barrier to protect us from the wolf.

"Mariko-san?!"

She was wearing a traditional *miko outfit and had a *katana in her hand. It was a long, shining blade with strange symbols glowing blue on it.

"Girls, I can’t hold it for long! One of you has to transform!"

"Eh?" Miki, Nana, and I looked at each other, and everyone had shocked expressions on their faces.

"Transform?!"

"What are you talking about, Mariko-san?"

"My ofuda scroll isn’t going to last. Only you guys can beat this monster!"

"But…"

I looked at my ring and saw it was glowing brightly.

I was the only one who stepped up and helped Mariko. I stood in front of her to where I was facing the giant wolf.

"Mako-chan!"

"Get away from that thing!"

"Mako, you need to figure out what unlocks the ring’s power so you can transform."

I looked at the ring and tried to think of what I could do.

Gotta think… If I don’t…

Then, Miki panicked and screamed, “Somebody do somethi—kii!!! I bith mah don.”

"Are you okay, Miki?"

"Itai~ dechu~" she whined as she rubbed her tongue.

"Chu?"

"Chu…"

"Chu!"

That’s it!

I slowly raised my hand to my lips and gently kissed the ring, causing the ruby to shine bright, covering me in bright light.

*Chu*

I slowly opened my eyes, and as the light unraveled, I saw myself dressed in a completely new outfit.

One-piece outfit, a belt with a heart pendant, white boots, red gloves, a daisy in the middle on my chest, collar with a sparkling ruby in the center, and red ribbon tied in my hair.

"I… transformed!"

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

Footnotes

*1. Hakata Sakura-joshi High - An all girls high school located in Hakata, Fukuoka. “Sakura-joshi” literally means “Sakura Girls’”

*2. Melonpan - A type of bread in Japan.

*3. Manzai - A comedy act in Japan, originating from Osaka. The act mainly consists of two people, one boke(the person who purposely acts silly and makes stupid comments) and the tsukkomi(the person who would get angered at the boke and retort their ridiculous acts by yelling, trying to reason or explain things to them, or hit them in the head.)

*4. Heart fragments - Special gems that might actually be pieces of someone’s heart. But who’s?

*5. Miko - A shrine maiden.

*6. Katana - A long sword used by samurai.