Hello, everyone! I'm M, and welcome to the very first chapter of my first fanfic! I've been reading fanfics for the longest time, but it wasn't until now that I've decided to actually write one! I'm super excited! With that out of the way, let's start the story!
DISCLAIMER: None of the characters in this story are mine unless stated. I don't own Go! Princess Precure, Precure, or anything related to it.
Chapter 1: In Deep Water
When I had opened my eyes, everything in my field of view was obscured by fog and darkness, no people, buildings, or objects in sight. Looking below my feet, I was shocked to find that I was standing on absolute nothing but thin air. Everything about it sent a cold chill down my spine.
"H..Hello? Is anyone there..?" I called out into the vast and dark void, only to be met with no response. After a few seconds, I started to panic. "Somebody?! Anybody?!" still no response. Just where was I?
"I don't understand anything that's going on right now.." I stared downward with unease for a few seconds before looking back up, only to be met with a sight that shocked me to the point where my eyes widened in raw disbelief. "M-M-Mom..?"
No doubt, it was my mom. She was wearing her gray sweater jacket over her aquamarine shirt, her gray pants, brown sandals, even her signature seashell necklace. She held out her arms. "Ryota.." her soft voice echoed out as she beckoned me to come to her.
"M..Mom, I.." I stuttered nervously before shakily reaching out my hand towards her. however, the moment I took just a single step, she started slowly drifting away. I widened my eyes once more, this time in fear.
"MOM!" I cried out to her as she started drifting away faster. As I began to run in a desperate attempt to catch up with her, it had proven to be futile as she just drifted away even further.
"Ryota..I love you.." her voice echoed out once again, before she completely vanished. My heart dropped as a horrid sensation filled my entire body, causing my skin to turn pale as I collapsed to my knees.
A single tear ran down my pale face as I trembled in despair at the single horrible realization that had now plagued my thoughts: I was… alone. Clenching my fists, I breathed in deeply before letting out one final shriek. "MOM! NO!"
"N-No..No!" with that, my eyes snapped wide open as I arose from my bed, panting heavily as I felt my heart beat even faster. I observed my surroundings. After a moment or so of observing, I had gathered my thoughts together.
"Just a dream.." I thought to myself as I sighed with lethargy. I then proceeded to step out of bed and walk towards my window. Spreading open the curtains, I was gifted with a beautiful view of the ocean, bringing a small smile to my face.
"That's weird. I could've sworn today was a special day or something. What could it be, though..?" I thought to myself once more as I tried thinking back to the day before.
BZZT! BZZT! I soon directed my attention to the cellphone on my bed, which was currently vibrating. Walking over to pick it up, I looked at the screen, my eyes widening in realization as I saw a reminder on it that read: 'IT'S YOUR B-DAY, MAN!'
"Oh right, I have the day off because it's my birthday!" I said excitedly as I grinned in anticipation of a fun day to come. I immediately dashed to my bathroom take a shower and get ready for the day.
A few minutes later…
After drying myself off and dressing in my favorite pair of clothes, which included a cerulean sleeveless hoodie over a bright gray short sleeved shirt, khaki shorts, and bright gray flip flops, I exited my bedroom and proceeded to go down the big spiral staircase which led me downstairs.
"Morning, Maru! Enjoy your sleep?" I greeted my pet Kurilian Bobtail, who was currently lying down on the living room couch. "Mroow!" he jubilantly responded. "Hehe, good to hear." I said, smiling as I leaned down to pet his neck. "Mrooow~!" he cooed in delight as I softly chuckled.
"I have a big day ahead of me, boy." I happily told my cat as I took out a piece of folded binder paper from the pocket of my khaki shorts. Maru, however, tilted his head in curiosity. "Mrow?" he mewed, as if he was asking a question.
"This right here is a schedule of my entire day. I've got pretty much everything planned out perfectly! First, I'll start off with a trip to Tengai Park. I'll stay for a few hours and take some new pictures to add to my collection. Next, I'll hit up the Manga Cafe. I'll get something to eat, and get the latest issue of Seinen Leap. Afterwards, I'll go to the Arcade and play some games. And last but certainly not least, I'll finish my day at the beach with some swimming!"
I had everything I needed. I had my cellphone, water bottle, Kodak, gaming gloves, swimwear, towel, beach blanket, and most importantly, money. All of which I had neatly organized inside my blue backpack.
After pouring some food and water for Maru, I grabbed my backpack and put it on as I walked towards the front door. "Anyways, I'm going now! Look after the house while I'm gone, Maru! I'll be back by 5:40, okay?" "Mrow!" Maru meowed in response.
I then exited my house, locking the door behind me. Getting on my bike, which I took from the spot by the front window where I placed it the night before, I started to pedal before rolling down the hill that lead from my house into the city.
Oh! By the way, my name's Ryota Kawaguchi. You know, the kid who's been narrating everything he's been doing? Yeah, sounds meta, huh? Anyways.. I live in Rakuenshima, I attend Rakuen Public High School (but am currently on summer break), I have a part time job at a local cafe, and today, I officially turn seventeen years old.
You're probably wondering why I live alone. Well, to put it not-so-simply, I used to live together with my mom, but she died five years ago of heart failure. As for my dad, he disappeared when I was just seven.
Luckily, since I was fifteen by the time my mom died, that being the minimal age people have to be to live alone, I was allowed to keep living in my house. Unluckily, however, like any independent youth living in Japan, I have to provide for myself.
All I have to say is that it for sure isn't easy. On top of the countless amounts of schoolwork and homework I get, I have to work at a part time job. Yeah, as if school by itself wasn't overly difficult..
You think I'd be better coming about handling it all? Well, here's thing; I. Don't. Like. Work. I mean, I'm not that disgusted with work to the point where I practically don't do anything, otherwise I wouldn't have gotten a job, but I generally just prefer not having to do it.
Of course, this includes socializing as well. So what if I'm crap at interacting with others? You don't need friends to be successful in life, anyway.
That aside, right now I just want to carry on with my day, and enjoy the day off I have been oh-so graciously given.
2 hours later…
"Alright! Lunchtime!" I said enthusiastically, pedaling faster and faster through the Rakuen shopping district, practically zooming past any civilian or pedestrian who stood in the way between me and my expected lunch.
Normally, I wouldn't be pedaling so fast..if it weren't for a special deal they offered at the manga cafe. You see, if it was your birthday, you could get a free manga or magazine.
..What, expecting more? Sorry to break it to you, but that's just it. Now, you may think I'm overreacting over something so small, but honestly, I think anybody would react similarly if they were in my shoes.
"I'm almost there!" I said as the manga cafe entered my field of view. However, it seemed luck wasn't on my side as to men who appeared to be carrying a FREAKING piano had intercepted my path.
My eyes widened in fear. Crap, crap, CRAP! Okay, maybe pedaling so fast WASN'T the best idea. "Crap, what am I gonna do? Wait, the brakes!" I thought before trying to use the brakes, but to no avail. "Damn it! How can the brake not work NOW of all times?!"
Unknown POV
"Wow, the sun is shining really bright today! It's so pretty!" I said, smiling as I flew freely and happily though the air. I could sense the overflowing feeling of joy coming from the surrounding flower spirits.
The sun was shining bright, the flowers were in full bloom, It really was a nice da- "CRAAAAAP!" I suddenly heard a voice crying in terror. Turning my head to look downward at the humans' shopping district, I saw an older boy riding a bike at a dangerously fast pace.
"Oh no!" I then gasped as I saw what he would come in contact with if he kept going. From the looks of it, he seemed unable to stop.
"If he keeps going, he'll get hurt for sure! I have to do something!" I worryingly said before holding my hands out and closing my eyes. "I know I'm not the best at this, but please work!" I pleaded.
"O, noble flower spirits! Hear my cry!" I began to chant. "With your mighty and graceful powers, I implore of you! Stir up a gale of petals that it may carry this young boy over the obstacle that blocks his path! The Nymph Haruka commands it!" I finished as my hands shockingly began to glow a bright pink.
"Ahh, it's working!" I cried with glee. This might actually be the first time I successfully perform a spell like this correctly!
Ryota's POV
CRAPBASKETS! I am LITERALLY only a few seconds away from hitting the damn piano! Well.. I guess I never really liked my bones, anyway..
Here it comes..3..2..1.. "CRAAAAA-w-woah..!" I screamed before yelping in surprise, my eyes widening as far as they humanly could as what could only be described as a strong gust of wind carrying cherry petals carried me through the air and over the piano. My feelings in that exact moment could only be described in three very simple words: What. The. Hell.
After I lightly descended to the ground due to the remaining wind, I was left in complete disbelief. "W..What in the name of everything sane had just happened..?" I thought to myself before looking back in the piano's direction, seeing that some of the people in the area, including the two guys carrying the piano were just as shocked at what happened as I was, made evident by their facial expressions.
I just stood there, mouth agape with a dumbfounded expression on my face as I tried to comprehend what just happened a few seconds ago, wondering whether or not I would be able to register it as real. After a few more seconds of just standing there in shock, I shook my head rapidly before sighing. "Maybe I really should lay off the junk food.."
Haruka's POV
I sighed, sweat dropping off the side of my head. "Great job, Haruka. You saved him, but caused a scene. You're lucky they're pretending it didn't happen.." Sure, it may've been a spur of the moment, but there most likely could've been a different way of approaching it! Like..well..uh..okay, maybe I did do the only thing I could do, but still!
"Haruka! Where are you -roma?" I heard Aroma's voice call out to me. "Oh! C-Coming, Aroma!" I said before flying off. "I hope that poor person isn't traumatized, he must've been really scared back there! I sure was!" well..for him, at least.
An hour and a half later…
Once I arrived at the arcade, I bought some tokens and walked straight to a particular game called Key Master. For those of you who don't know what it is, it's game that involves the player trying to win prizes inside by pushing it with key. The catch? You have to push the key through a keyhole. I narrowed my eyes at it. "My mortal enemy, we meet again."
You're all probably wondering why I was talking to an arcade game like an insane person. Well, er..okay, the reason really isn't all that good..but it's still a reason nonetheless! You see, each time I've been to this arcade, I've always spent nearly all my tokens on just this single machine alone. Why, might you ask? I'll give you one acronym: PS4.
Yeah, I know what you're all thinking: 'How stupid can you get, Ryota? Even you should know how rigged those machines are!' well, first of all, how DARE you call me stupid! Second of all, I'll be damned if I don't even try to win it! I may have a substantially well-paying job, but if I wanted to pay for a new game console, I wouldn't have even gone out today!
"I may have failed in defeating you, countless times, in fact! But I'm not lying when I say that today, I swear to the water gods that today, the outcome will be different!" I said in a determined manner, setting my bag of tokens down on the floor next to my feet, but not before taking some tokens out. "Prepare to be defeated, Key Master!" I told the machine, a burning fire of determination visible in my eyes! I was hellbent, and I mean hellbent on getting the game console that was inside the machine.
Numerous waisted tokens later…
"C'mon..c'mon..!" I said, sweating under pressure as I pressed the button to push the key through the hole. "Come..on..!" it got closer and closer towards the hole until..it only got nearly through the hole. "DAMN IT!" I shouted in exasperation before hanging my head down in disappointment.
I sighed. "I can't believe I spent most of my tokens on this thing.." the thought of giving up and spending the rest of my precious time playing games I'd actually enjoy, not to mention just giving up in general had crossed my mind.
Soon, I heard footsteps that grew louder as they came closer. "Excuse me, I think I dropped my watch back here, and er..are..you okay?" a female voice from behind me asked, to which I turned around and pessimistically responded "Yeah, I'm-" the moment I had laid my eyes upon the source of the voice, however, they slightly widened as my cheeks glowed a bright pink.
It appeared to be a girl, who looked about the same age as me. She had long, soft-looking brown hair tied into two low pigtails, a pair of amethyst eyes that could easily draw the attention of anyone, fairly bright-looking skin, and a slightly slender body. She was wearing a short sleeve jean jacket over a bright blue and yellow collared shirt, jean shorts, and chunky sandals. Tied around her head was a lilac headband and on her ears were yellow earrings shaped like stars.
To put it shortly, she was really pretty. After a few seconds of staring at her in awe, however, the girl's confused voice broke the awkward silence between us that lingered for too long. "Is there something on my face?" she asked, eyebrow raised in puzzlement.
Snapping out of my awe, I started to stutter like a fool. "I-I, n-no, w-well-" before I could stutter anymore though, I slapped myself on the cheek. "Damn it Ryota, get a hold of yourself!" I thought to myself, taking a deep breath and exhaling, calming myself down in the process.
"No, there's nothing on your face. It's completely fine." I said, sighing. "Oh, uh..alright then. Hm? Oh! There it is." she said, noticing an object on the ground near the machine before picking it up, revealing it to be a golden pocket watch with a sun and moon on the back. She smiled at the joy of being able to retrieve her previously lost belonging.
"Ugh.." I groaned in mental fatigue as I leaned my forehead against the Key Master machine. What I didn't notice though as I leaned my forehead against the machine was that the girl was still standing there, tilting her head curiously.
"You know, you never really gave me an answer as to whether or not you were okay." she stated in a matter-of-fact tone, gaining my attention once more in the process. "Let's just say.." I motioned to the game behind me. "..I should've been wiser with my tokens." I grumbled.
"You do know those things are rigged, right?" she asked me in a scrutinizing tone, rolling her eyes as she sweatdropped. I shrugged. "Hey, I thought that I should've at least made an attempt to beat it.."
The girl sighed. "You don't easily give up on these sort of things, do you?" I shook my head, signifying my confirming of her question. "Well then…" she grasped her chin, seemingly sinking into her own thoughts. This continued for a minute or so, welcoming back the awkward silence from earlier. Finally, she snapped out of her thoughts, quite literally, with a snap of her fingers.
"Ahh, that's it!" she said, raising a finger in realization. She pointed at my token bag. "Can you take out five tokens?" she asked me with a small grin. I raised my eyebrows, blinking a few times in confusion. "Uh..sure, but w-" before I could speak any further, however, I was cut off by a finger placed in front of my face in the manner of silencing me. I blushed a bit.
"Shh, just grab the tokens and hold them out, okay..?" she asked mischievously. I didn't know what she was gonna do..but it couldn't possibly be anything with mal intent, right? I hesitantly nodded, doing as she asked and grabbing five tokens from my bag before holding them out towards her. "I'm honestly curious as to what she's gonna do.." I thought to myself. Well, here we go..
The girl closed her eyes before making strange hand movements. "Become lucky..become lucky..!" she chanted before drawing a star with her finger over the tokens. "Kirakira!~" she said, before finishing off with a soft clap. After she did so, I of course, had only one reaction. "..I..just..what?" what was that? What even was that? Now I was just confused.
Nevertheless, the girl smiled. "I cast a lucky spell on them. Just put them in, try again, and I'm sure you'll succeed this time." she said, walking away as she waved off. I stood there, stupefied at what I had just witnessed with my own two eyes.
I looked down at the tokens in my hands. After a few seconds or so of thinking, I approached the machine once more, sighing. "Guess I'll try one more time.."
Unknown POV
Although it seemed that I had left, in truth, I went and stood behind another machine, covertly observing the boy I just interacted with insert his tokens into the slot of the machine. I watched carefully as he maneuvered the key that was inside the machine to the keyhole in front of the PS4.
"It's showtime." I whispered to myself, bringing up my hand and extending my index finger in the direction of the machine. "Subvertit, et factus est tenuis." I incanted, a tiny lilac magic circle appearing at the tip of my index finger. "Now, I just need to make the key thinner.."
Ryota's POV
Here we go, the moment of truth.. after some careful maneuvering, I stopped the key where I wanted it to. Cringing my face, I hesitantly reached out to press the button, making the key move forward, but ultimately..GO SUCCESSFULLY THROUGH THE KEYHOLE!?
My eyes widened in raw disbelief as my prize dropped down. I rubbed my eyes before opening them again to confirm that what I was seeing was actually happening. Commencing freak out in three- "I DID IT! I DID IT!" I screamed in victory, raising my arms in the air.
Kneeling down, I proceeded to take my well-earned game console from the bottom compartment of the machine. "YEAH! IN YOUR FACE, KEY MASTER!" I said, raising the console above my head.
Unknown POV
I softly chuckled to myself as I watched the boy celebrate his victory. "He's a pretty interesting guy, to say in the least.." I thought to myself before starting to walk towards the exit, making sure he didn't see me in the process.
I knew that using magic for things like this would definitely get me in big trouble, but I simply couldn't just stand by and watch as a person who obviously put a lot of effort and passion into something being cheated out of their money. Not on Amanogawa Kirara's watch.
Luckily for me, I won't even have to mention anything about it to my parents.
Nearly three and a half hours later...
I emerged from the waters of the ocean, my entire body wet from swimming. I walked onto the shore, feeling the heat of the dry, soft sand with each step I took. I shook my head, in turn, shaking the water out of my moist and scruffy hair.
"Man, do I love the ocean!" I said with zeal. I really did love the ocean, though. I loved swimming in its refreshing and crystal clear waters, I loved the beautiful view of it from my house, I even loved the creatures that lived in it.
Not to mention, it reminded me of my mom, who also loved the ocean as well. Believe it or not, I actually used to be scared of the ocean. Crazy, huh? ..Not surprised? Understandable.
But yeah, I used to be terrified of the ocean. Everytime we would come to the beach, my mom would always want me to swim with her. Being the scared kid I was, however, I chose to stay on shore and play in the sand. It wasn't until I was seven that I overcame my fear.
Flashback
I could remember what happened very vividly; I had my floaties, and approached the ocean with extreme caution. I could recall how scared to death I was of drowning. "P-Please mommy, I don't wanna! T-The water is scary!" the frightened voice of younger me stuttered, on the verge of tears.
"Come on, sweetie! Don't worry, if something goes wrong, I'll have your back! I promise!" my mother reassured me, a smile of her face as she held her arms out. Taking my mother's words to heart, younger me slowly took one step in the water. Younger me's eyes widened in surprise. The water wasn't cold, it was..actually a bit warm? "That's it honey, no need to rush.." my mother said in a soothing manner.
With each step younger me took, he went deeper into the water. The deeper he went into the water, the lesser he was afraid. He continued to go further in the water until..arms. Younger me felt a pair of long arms wrap around him in embrace. "That's right, everything is fine.." my mother looked down at me with a loving smile. I smiled as well, hugging her back.
Flashback End
I had approached my beach blanket, drying myself off with my towel a bit before taking my cellphone from my backpack to check the time. "Wow, almost 5:00 already?" I said, my eyebrows raised in surprise. Time sure flew by, huh? Well, I was for sure having a ton of fun, so..
"I suppose I'll get in one last round of swimming, then!" I said to myself, putting my phone in my backpack and running back towards the water in excitement, but.. Little did I know what was in store for me when I got back in the water.
Unlike the last few hours I was at the beach, I decided to finish off with a bang by swimming in the deeper parts of the water. I wasn't worried though. Surprisingly, we didn't get many tidal waves in Rakuenshima, not during the day or during the night, for some reason. I wasn't worried about getting lost either, considering I knew clearly where the shores were, and could swim back there with ease. I just swam happily in the deep waters of the ocean, and it would be an understatement saying I was enjoying myself.
After six minutes or so of swimming, I decided to raise my head out of the water. "Well, it's been more than fun, but I guess it's time to swim ba-" "HEY! KIIIID!" I was interrupted as I heard an adult man yell from the shore. I looked back "YOU HAVE TO GET OUTTA THERE, FAST!" what? Why..?
The man, however, didn't answer my question because he ran away in fear. "Huh..?" I looked behind myself in confusion before my entire body turned pale at what I saw. It was a tidal wave. A huge. Freaking. Tidal wave. AND IT WAS COMING IN MY GENERAL DIRECTION! "HOLY CRAP!" I screamed at the top of my lungs in terror, before swimming as I hard as I could, fearing for my life. It proved to be ineffective though, as the wave grew closer. The wave grew closer and closer until-
"OH SH-" it swallowed me whole. I began to sink into the ocean. I tried to move my limbs, but was unable to, due to using up nearly all of my energy. I clenched my throat as water started to fill my lungs. I grew more weary by the second.
"Man..I never thought I would I die on my birthday.." I thought to myself. I was alone. I was going to die alone, drowning in the very ocean I loved. "I guess we're going to finally going to be together again, mom.." I gave in as my body started to lose consciousnesses, sinking deeper and deeper into the depths of the ocean..and then..
A hand. I felt a hand firmly grasping my arm, as if to pull me up. "Huh..?" I looked up in shock. It was..a girl. She had a bright complexion, long flowing dark turquoise hair, and captivating azure eyes. She wore a bright blue top that showed off her midriff, a small pearl necklace.
Looking down lower, instead of seeing two legs, I instead saw..a..blue fish tail..? "Is..she a..?" Before I could question anything else, however, everything started going..black..
That same day, my entire life changed.
Damn, writing this chapter alone was the longest thing I've written in my life. I still can't believe I spent a WEEK writing it..anyways, I'm not sure about the frequency of updating, but in the meantime, feel free to give your opinions, questions, and reviews! Flaming, however, is not allowed. This is M, signing out!