The Bet, the Speedo, and the Forgetful

Kaito's house

It's been a few days since the fireworks festival, and Kaito and his friends were enjoying a game of cards after having a day of surfing the waves. Kaito just lost another round, and Daichi said, "You lost another one Kaito!"

Kaito looked determined as he said, "Tch, just one more. I'm sure my luck will make a comeback this time!"

Kengo looked at Kaito and said with a smug look, "You said that the last three times, and look what happened…" The others laughed at that and Kaito said, "Fine, how about a bet then? If I win, you guys have to do one thing for me. If I lose, it's vice versa."

The other guys looked at each other before they grinned and Daichi said, "We'll hold you to that. It's my turn to deal…"

About ten minutes later…

"Argh, not again!" Kaito shouted as he threw down his hand, which was the worst hand out of all of them. Suddenly, there was a feeling of doom creeping up on him as the other guys had mischievous grins on their faces. That's when Kengo said, "You know Kaito, I overheard Maki-san saying that he needs some advertisement done for the restaurant, and I think I just might have the solution…"

The others looked at each other as Kengo whispered something to the other guys and they seemed to agree with it. Kaito eyed them carefully as he slowly got up and said, "I don't know what you guys have planned, but it better not be embarrassing."

"…Sorry about that Kaito, but I don't think we can promise you that." Daichi told him. At those words, Kaito inwardly cursed his bad luck kicking in today of all days.

Beach sidewalk

At the same time, Lucia and Hanon were walking by the beachside, holding groceries that Nikora had asked them to get as an errand. Lucia sighed and said, "I never thought Onee-chan would ask for so much."

"Yeah, if we had known that they would weigh so much, we would've called Rina to help us." Hanon replied, feeling slightly strained from holding the bags.

Lucia tightened her grip on the bags when a sparkle caught her eye on the beach. She looked to the source and saw something gleaming from the sunset light. Curious, she went down to the beach to investigate, making Hanon said, "Huh? Lucia, where are you going?"

Hanon followed Lucia until she stopped at a certain spot, where Lucia bent down and picked up something from the ground. The two took a closer look, and saw that it was a simple silver ring that had a small rainbow gem set into it. Hanon's eyes widened at it as she said, "Wow, it's so pretty…!"

"Yeah, but do you think someone lost it?" Lucia asked. Suddenly, the Pink and Aqua Pearls started giving off a faint glow for a moment, which shocked the two of them. The ring wasn't doing anything as the glow faded, making Hanon ask, "Eh, what was that?"

The two Mermaid Princesses were looking at their shell necklaces and Lucia said, "I think we should show this ring to Onee-chan and the others. Maybe they might know something."

"I agree, and we should hurry, since these bags are starting to get heavy!" Hanon complained. Lucia just sighed as she pocketed the ring and the two of them walked back up the stairs to the sidewalk, with Lucia nearly tripping.

Hanon couldn't help but giggle at that, making Lucia say, "Moh, Hanon you meanie."

"Sorry, sorry! Let's just hurry up and get back to Pearl Piari." Hanon replied. The two of them quickly made their way to Pearl Piari, though the bags started to get heavier the more they ran.

Pearl Piari

After getting reprimanded by Nikora for being late, Lucia and Hanon sat down at a table, while Lucia put the ring on top so they could look at it clearly. Hanon asked, "What are we going to do with this ring? It's obvious that someone lost it…"

"…I know! We'll put up some posters and notices around town! Maybe the owner will see it and will come over to claim it." Lucia suggested.

That's when Hippo entered the room and asked, "What are you two doing?" He hopped onto the table and when he saw the ring, Hippo suddenly became speechless as the penguin stared at the ring in shock.

Lucia and Hanon were confused at Hippo's reaction as Lucia asked, "Um Hippo, are you alright?"

Suddenly Hippo shouted, "Nikora-san! Taki-san! Please get over here quickly!"

The two girls had to cover their ears as Hippo shouted, making Hanon ask, "What was that for Hippo?!"

Both Nikora and Taki ran into the hall with Nikora saying, "What is it Hippo?!" Taki added, "I was in the middle of something Hippo, so this better be important."

Hippo looked like he was about to explode as he pointed to the ring and said, "This ring, take a look at it. I'm not sure, but if it's what I think it is…"

Nikora and Taki took a closer look at it and the two of them gasped in surprise. This made the two girls curious as Lucia asked, "Eh? Is something wrong Onee-chan, Taki-san?"

Then Nikora turned to Lucia and Hanon asking, "Where did you two find this ring?"

"I found it on the beach as we were coming home, "Lucia replied, noticing Nikora's odd tone, "Why, do you know what it is?"

Taki was the one to answer as she picked up the ring and said, "Yes we do. My, I'd never thought that I would see something like this in my lifetime…"

"Then is it actually real Taki-san?" Both Nikora and Hippo asked. Taki nodded, while Lucia and Hanon didn't like being kept out of the loop, and were not very curious about the ring. Hanon asked, "What is it exactly Taki-san?"

Taki held he ring out to them and said, "This, Mermaid Princesses, is called a Serenitatis ring, an extremely rare mermaid artifact. Only a few of these exist throughout the entire underwater world, and is sought by many treasure hunting mermaids."

A look of surprise was on both girls' faces, but Lucia was confused and asked, "Is it really that rare? I mean, it looks really beautiful and all, but is it really all that special?"

"These rings are mainly sought for their special power, not for how they look Lucia." Nikora told them. Lucia and Hanon looked confused, so Taki told them, "This ring has the ability to control your mermaid transformations. For example, if either Lucia, Hanon, or Nikora were to wear this ring and jump into the ocean, you wouldn't transform into your mermaid forms."

There was a moment of silence as Lucia and Hanon absorbed the information. Then they looked back at the ring and the two got excited at the possibilities, that they forgot that the ring was a lost item.

Maki's restaurant

The next day, Lucia, Hanon and Rina were walking along the beach in their new two piece bikinis that they bought a few days ago. Lucia had a pink one on that had a pair of seashells around her hips. Hanon's was blue and had rings that held it together, as well as stars attached that looked like the one in Hanon's hair in her idol and mermaid form. Rina's was yellow one, with the strings and outlines being green.

Lucia was wearing the Serenitatis ring, while she and Hanon explained about the ring. Rina was quite surprised to hear about it but she asked, "But isn't the ring a lost item? I thought you said that you found it on the beach."

"We thought so too at first, but it's a mermaid artifact, so why would a human have it?" Hanon asked her. Lucia added, "It's most likely that it was washed upon ashore."

"…That makes sense, I guess…" Rina replied. But in her head she thought, 'But something just doesn't feel right about that…'

As they approached Maki's restaurant, the three heard a commotion going on, which mostly consisted of girls. Lucia, Hanon, and Rina turned to each other in confusion as Lucia asked, "What's going on?"

Then two girls ran by and shouted something the three couldn't quite catch, but what they did catch was them screaming, "Kaito-sama!" That made them look at each other again before they made their way towards the restaurant.

When they got there, Lucia, Hanon, and Rina had to squeeze their way through what one would describe as a controlled fangirl mob. They managed to get through the girls and when they did, they were treated to a sight that made their faces turn slightly red, except for Lucia, who put on a full blush at the sight.

Kaito was going around serving people in nothing but a pure black Speedo. Most of the customers were girls, and to the far side, Kaito's friends were looking at him with grins on their faces as Kaito tried very hard to keep a straight face in front of the customers. Maki was at the bar, watching the whole thing with a mix of confusion and amusement, since it was a surprise sprung on him earlier that day.

Anyway, both Lucia and Hanon blushed a bit at the scene; Lucia more so than Hanon, especially since they thought they saw him flex a bit. Even Rina had to turn away from the scene, as her thoughts from a few days ago started to surface in her mind. It didn't help that Kaito noticed the three of them and decided to walk over to them for a greeting.

Lucia's face got a bit redder as Kaito approached them and said, "Hi girls, came by for a bite?"

The three Mermaid Princesses can feel the fangirl mob giving them dagger looks, which made them sweat drop as Lucia replied, "Um, well, we just, uh, stopped by to see, um, what was going on." She took a quick glance at Kaito's Speedo before she flushed a bit more and asked, "So, um, what's with the, uh, change of clothes Kaito?"

There was a slight cringe on Kaito's face before he replied, "Well, I lost a bet against the guys last night, and the forced me into this," He shivered a bit and said, "It almost feels like I'm not wearing anything though…"

That made the girls turn away blushing, and even some of the fangirls fainted at his words. Maki came around with a small smile on his face, though he looked concerned for the girls that fainted at the same time. He put his hand on Kaito's shoulder and said, "Why don't you take a break Kaito-kun? I think you need one right now…"

Kaito looked like he was just saved from the jaws of death as he said, "Thank you very much Maki-san!" Maki waved it off and said, "As much as I appreciate the business, things might get out of hand if you know what I mean…"

"Yeah, I know," Kaito replied, giving a nod to the fangirls. Maki had an idea come to mind and said, "If I remember, Lucia-chan doesn't know how to swim, so why don't you teach her to Kaito-kun?"

The fangirls looked scandalized, while Lucia, Hanon, and Rina's eyes widened a bit at that. Suddenly, Lucia thought to herself, 'Wait, it's actually possible now that I'm wearing the Serenitatis ring now.'

Then Lucia took a step forward and said, "Um, it's okay with me Kaito, I don't mind."

Kaito was about to say something when he remembered that the bet involved him wearing only a Speedo for twenty-four hours. Cursing his friends and his lousy luck, not to mention mentally adding, 'Tch, those guys super glued the Speedo at my hips when they knocked me out…' he said, "…Okay, I'm fine with that. Let's get going Lucia."

Ignoring all of the jealous glares Lucia got from the fangirls, Lucia and Kaito made their way out of the restaurant. After their departure, the fangirls dispersed, leaving Hanon and Rina by themselves. They looked at each other as Rina asked, "Is Lucia really going to be alright? I mean, what if the ring's actually a fake and it doesn't work?"

"Don't worry about that Rina, the ring definitely works," Hanon replied, "Lucia and I tested it out when we took our baths. Personally, washing myself in my human form felt different." Hanon whispered the last sentence to Rina as she raised an eyebrow at it.

That's when out of the corner of Rina's eye, she saw Yuri and Maria near the forest, and there was some kind of boom box contraption between them. Rina nudged to Hanon and pointed them out saying, "Hey Hanon, what do you think of that?"

"…Only one thing; trouble." Hanon replied. The two nodded and they quietly walked out of the restaurant to confront the two water demons in a sneak attack.

Beachside

Kaito led Lucia to a more secluded part of the beach, as Lucia got quite nervous being alone with Kaito. Meanwhile, he looked around and said, "This looks like a good spot, so why don't we get started Lucia?"

"Eh? Ah, okay Kaito…" Lucia replied. A part of her was worried that she would still transform into her mermaid form despite having the ring on, while another part of her was quite embarrassed with Kaito standing near her in a Speedo. Taking a deep breath, she followed Kaito into the ocean water, and she gave a small sigh of relief after going waist deep into the water without transforming.

'…Wow, it kinda feels a bit different from when I'm in my mermaid form.' Lucia mentally noted. Kaito turned to her and asked, "So, ready to start Lucia?"

"Sure!" Lucia happily replied, with all of her worries disappearing in a flash. Kaito was taken aback a bit by the sudden enthusiasm but he just smiled as he held out his hand and said, "Okay, let's start!"

As the day went by, Lucia found swimming as a human hard at first, and her first couple of tries were utter failures, which amused Kaito, but soon she was starting to get the hang of it and was able to do the simple motions, though she still needed to hold on to Kaito. She thought to herself, 'Wow, it was hard at first, but swimming as a human is actually pretty fun! Not to mention I'm spending so much time with Kaito, eh heh!'

Forest

On the outside of the forest, Yuri and Maria were having an argument over the use of their new gadget that they created to lure and capture the Mermaid Princesses. It didn't have a name, but it had two functions. The first one was that it can hypnotize people with it's music, so that they can find the Mermaid Princesses since their hypnotized state reacts to their presence. The second one was that it can lure Mermaids to itself playing an attractive melody, something like the way Yuri did with Taro's stolen piano piece.

Back to the water demons, Yuri wanted to use the gadget for it's second function, while Maria wanted to use it for it's first function. They were arguing about it so much that Gaito sent them out just so that the castle could have some peace and quiet, and both Izuru and Eriru didn't want to get in the middle of it.

"Luring all of them to a secluded place will work this time! Hypnotizing a bunch of humans would just be a waste of time!" Yuri shouted.

"As if! Luring the Mermaid Princesses the last time didn't work, as I recall!" Maria shouted back, "At least with hypnotized humans, searching for the Mermaid Princesses would be a lot easier!"

"Ha! As if a human would fall under the spell of a cold-tempered witch!"

"At least I'm not a little brat with any curves that can catch Gaito-sama's attention!"

"Fu, well, I'd rather be a young girl than an old bat!"

"What was that?!"

"You heard me, you white haired granny!"

"My hair is blond, you flat board!"

Hanon and Rina were watching the whole scene from some bushes, and they couldn't help but sweat drop at the whole scene. Hanon said, "They look like they're about to tear each other apart. Are you sure we should handle this?"

"As much as I would like to leave the two of them to go at it, we just can't leave them alone. Plus Lucia's nearby somewhere, so whatever they may be planning might affect her and Kaito." Rina reasoned with Hanon.

Hanon nodded at that but as they separated, she took one last look at the scene and thought, 'They sure don't look like they have a plan, but that boom box thingy over there might be trouble.'

Both Mermaid Princesses transformed into their idol forms and both went to opposite ends of where Yuri and Maria were standing. They were so engrossed into their argument that they didn't even see the two of them walk up to them and they shouted, "Pichi Pichi Voice Live Start!"

"Eh, what the?!" The two water demons shouted as Star Jewel started.

Nagareboshi ne negai wo kaketa

Nanatsu no hikari mitsukedashite

Both Yuri and Maria held their ears together as Yuri shouted, "Where the heck did they come from?!"

"How am I supposed to know?!" Maria shouted back.

Hanarebanare ni natta Trailing Star

Unmei to iu kizuna wo shinjiteru

As the two water demons were in pain from the song, the boom box contraption started to smoke as sparks started to come out. It was as if the box was suffering like the water demons as the next verse came up.

Tsumetai nami ni toketa

Namida no yukue wa

Darenimo kizukarenai mama

Sotto awa to kiete itta

Nakushita mono o sagashiteru

Kokoro ga setsunai

Midori no ame ni tsutsumarete

Utai tsudzukeru Song For You

Umarekawaru asa ga kuru nara

Onaji inochi o mata ikitai

Meguriaeru subete no mono ga

Houseki ni naru kiseki o shinjiteru

"Love Shower Pitch!" Hanon and Rina shouted, pointing to Yuri and Maria. They cringed in pain just as the contraption exploded. Both of them looked absolutely pissed off that they lost the contraption, and Maria shouted, "You see what you did?! The Mermaid Princesses snuck up on us and destroyed the boom box!"

"As if! I guess your old age is catching up to you!" Yuri spat back. That didn't help as Maria shouted, "Why you-?!"

The two of them vanished, making Hanon and Rina shake their heads. Hanon said, "Those two sure were angry at each other." Rina sighed as the two of them transformed back to their human forms and she said, "Let's get going and find Lucia. I have an odd feeling that something's going to happen."

Beachside

Lucia was starting to get tired from all the swimming lessons, despite the breaks in between. Now she and Kaito were just floating in the water, relaxing and flowing with the waves. Lucia said, "Whew, never knew swimming was so much fun, though it is tiring…"

"Don't worry about it. With a few more lessons, I'm sure you'll become an excellent swimmer Lucia." Kaito assured her.

Lucia blushed a bit at that but felt something beating in her heart and thought, 'This feels nice, being with Kaito like this.'

Suddenly a big wave appeared and was heading right towards them. It crashed over them without warning and the two of them went under. Lucia quickly came back up but saw that Kaito hadn't surfaced yet. Lucia got worried as she shouted, "Kaito! Kaito!"

She was about tear off the Serenitatis ring and dive down to look for him when Kaito jumped back up near the shoreline, making a big splash which caught Lucia's attention. Lucia couldn't help but feel relieved and she made her way towards him.

Kaito was facing away from her and was standing up straight saying, "Whew, that was a close one. I hope Lucia's alright." Then he heard splashing and knew that it was Lucia so she turned around and said, "Lucia, are you-?"

Suddenly Kaito turned red and quickly whipped around, making Lucia's say, "Kaito?" Then a light breeze blew over and that was when Lucia noticed that something was wrong. She looked down and to her horror, her bikini top had come loose and had fallen off, and it was floating in the water in front of her. The embarrassment was too much for her and she fainted after her face turned bright red.

Hearing a loud splash, Kaito turned around and concern overcame his embarrassment. He was still red as he somehow managed to get her top back on her and get themselves to shore. At the same time, Hanon and Rina came onto the scene and they grew concerned when they saw Lucia was unconscious and in Kaito's arms. Kaito just gave Lucia to them saying, "Please take care of her, I need to go now."

As Kaito ran off in the direction of Maki's restaurant, Hanon and Rina looked at Lucia as Hanon said, "We'd better take her back to Pearl Piari before anyone sees." Rina nodded at that as she bent down and Hanon put Lucia on Rina's back. After that, Rina was the one to carry her back to Pearl Piari with Hanon in tow.

Pearl Piari

When Hanon and Rina came back with Lucia still out of it, they found Nikora and Taki talking to a woman that had long brown hair with green streaks in it, having lime green eyes and wearing a plain white dress. The woman looked distressed as Hanon and Rina came in with Lucia on Rina's back.

Seeing that, Nikora asked, "Oh my, what the heck happened?" Hanon replied, "Don't worry about it Nikora-san. Lucia just fainted for some reason, but she's not hurt."

That's when the woman noticed the Serenitatis ring on Lucia's finger and said, "Excuse me, but can you show me that ring on that girl's finger?"

Lucia was put down on the couch as Nikora went and retrieved the Serenitatis ring from Lucia's finger. Hanon and Rina followed Nikora over as she put the ring on the table where the woman and Taki were sitting. As the three mermaids took a seat, Rina looked at the woman and thought, 'Who is she? She reminds me of something…'

The expression on the woman's face turned to one of relief as she said, "Oh, it really is my ring! Thank goodness, I thought I lost it forever!"

"It belongs to you miss?" Hanon blurted out, curious. The woman nodded before she said, "Yes, it does. But first let me introduce myself. I'm Midori Hanami, and I'm a North Atlantic Mermaid, though I haven't been there for ten years now…"

That surprised Hanon, and especially Rina, who Midori addressed, "And I take it that you are the North and South Atlantic Mermaid Princesses correct? And the one lying on the couch is the North Pacific Mermaid Princess? Nikora-san and Taki-san explained everything to me."

Midori took the Serenitatis ring and said, "Thank you very much for finding this. I've been entrusted to take care of it for as long as I remember, and I was worried when I lost it the other day. Again, thank you very much."

Then Midori turned to Rina and said, "Princess Rina, I hope that you can defeat Gaito and restore the kingdom. I may not live there anymore, but I still consider the North Atlantic kingdom to be my precious home."

Rina smiled at that and said, "Thank you very much Hanami-san." Midori got up and said, "Well, thank you for everything, and I'm extremely grateful for you finding the Serenitatis ring."

Midori was about to leave when an idea came to her and she put the ring back on the table saying, "You know, I'm staying around for a few weeks, so I'll leave the ring here with you for now. Consider it me loaning it to you girls for now."

Hanon and Rina were surprised as Midori gave a wink at them, then Nikora said, "Me and Taki-san will walk you out Midori-san." Midori nodded and gave both Hanon and Rina a bow before she walked out of the room, with Nikora and Taki behind her.

A moment later, Lucia woke up and looked around in a daze. Hanon and Rina when over to her with Hanon asking, "Lucia, are you alright?"

"…Um yeah, I think so…" Lucia replied, still a bit out of it. Rina asked her, "What happened Lucia? Did something happen while Kaito was teaching you how to swim?"

For obvious reasons, Lucia turned red and said, "Huh? Oh, yeah swimming… No, nothing happened!"

Hanon raised an eyebrow and asked, "Um, are you alright Lucia? You look a bit flustered…"

"Everything's alright Hanon, just a bit tired." Lucia replied. Then she got up and put a swimsuit jacket on herself and said, "I'm going to go out for a walk, okay."

When Lucia left, Hanon and Rina looked at each other, wondering what the heck happened during the swimming lesson.

Kaito's house

Lucia walked along the beach, until she passed by Kaito's house, and her thoughts went back to what had happened involving her top. She blushed a bit at the memory, but a part of her was worried about Kaito for some reason, so she carefully made her way over to his place.

When she reached the door, Lucia rang the doorbell and waited for Kaito to respond. A moment passed and Lucia wondered if he was out, until she noticed that the door was slightly open, and thought, 'Why's the door open…?'

Entering the house, Lucia took off her jacket and hung it on a hook nearby, leaving her in only her bikini. She looked around the house, until she found Kaito lying down on a couch in the living room, looking all wet, and still in nothing but his Speedo, which made her blush for a second. By the way Kaito looked, he had gone out for a swim earlier and came back, just to fall asleep before he could dry himself off, since parts of the floor still seemed to be wet.

Going over to his side while avoiding the water, Lucia looked at Kaito for a moment before the embarrassing scene back at the beach came back to her mind. She couldn't help but blush a bit until her thoughts became clouded with her memories of the two meeting each other in her mermaid form, and she couldn't help but think, 'I wish I really can tell you about my feelings…' She put her hand to Kaito's cheek and caressed it softly.

Lucia was a bit out of it when Kaito started to stir; surprising her as she quickly withdrew her hand, while Kaito opened his eyes and said, "Huh…Lucia…?"

Seeing that it was indeed Lucia, Kaito sprung up just as Lucia said, "I'm sorry Kaito, your door was open so I thought that you might be home…"

For some reason, Kaito was still a bit disoriented as he got up saying, "I left the door open…? That's weird…"

When Kaito was fully awake, he got up and turned to Lucia, and the first thing he remembered was that embarrassing incident and he turned red. He looked away a bit as he said, "So, you managed to fix your top I see…"

"Y-yeah, it just became undone… Must've been when that wave came…" Lucia said, still embarrassed as she looked away.

There was a moment of silence before they looked at each other, and somehow, Lucia slipped and Kaito caught her saying, "Watch out!"

Lucia was now in Kaito's arms and the two were blushing, when the two of them looked into each other's eyes, and soon, they drew closer slowly. All of a sudden, the two of them kissed for a moment, then broke away from each other, with the two of them blushing red on their faces.

There was a moment of silence, and the two of them were about to say something at the same time when suddenly, there was a thud kind of noise, then Kaito promptly dropped to the floor like a brick, unconscious. That confused Lucia, and it made her look around saying, "Huh? What just happened?"

That's when an orb of light could be seen above where Kaito was standing, and the last thing Lucia heard was, "I'm sorry Pink Mermaid Princess-sama!" and her vision went black. She too fell to the floor unconscious and the orb of light left the house now that it's job was done.

An hour later, both Kaito and Lucia woke up, confused as to why they were in Kaito's house, since the last thing that they remembered was being at the beach house.

Beachside

A ball of light was floating over the ocean near the beach. It was bobbling up and down as if it was tired, when suddenly, Aqua Regina's voice said, "You've done well young sea fairy…"

The sea fairy said in a high voice, "I did what you told me to do Aqua Regina-sama, and I suppressed the memories of both the North Pacific Princess and the Panterassa Prince of that embarrassing event. I still don't know why you told me to do that…"

"…I have my reasons…" Aqua Regina replied before her voice vanished. The sea fairy dived into the water as it said to itself, "Sometimes I can't understand what our goddess is thinking about…" With that the sea fairy swam away, leaving a confused human and Mermaid Princess behind.

Note: I take no credit for the general idea. This one-shot was done on request, so credit for the idea does not go to me, but to the person who asked me to do this, who I won't mention by name. Anyway, this one-shot is considered to take place between Episodes 16 and 17 of Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch, thus, the odd ending.