Chapter 7: Judge and Jury
"No way, Kaede! Are you being serious?"
The red-haired tomboy couldn't believe what she had just heard. Her soft-spoken friend Kaede, confessing to her longtime crush, Yuuki Setsu? That was virtually unthinkable and so unlike her friend that she checked out of the window to ensure that she was still in reality and that pigs weren't flying right now. After she'd confirmed that, she then put her phone to her ear again to clarify that she had heard the previous statement correctly and wasn't just imagining things.
"Yes, Etsumi!" she heard her friend squeal. "As of a while ago, Yuuki-kun and I are officially a couple!"
Etsumi had to clamp her mouth shut to hold back a huge squeal of joy. "This is so great, Kaede! After all the years that you've pined for him, the two of you have finally got together!"
"Etsumi, calm down! It's just—"
"Kaede, it's not just official!" Etsumi was literally pulling her hair out at her friend's attempt to downplay this, of all things. How was Kaede even able to act so calm? "This is like, everything that you've always wanted ever since you were in first grade of middle school! Come on, Kaede! There's no need to be so humble! You did it! We'll mark this day down forever! September 20th, 2005, the day the two of you lovebirds finally took flight! Woo!"
"Uh, Etsumi…" came a sheepish voice from the phone speaker.
"Just imagine it, Kaede! This is like a romance movie where the girl finally gets the guy after pining for him the entire film! She overcomes any and every obstacle the world throws in her way, like aliens trying to take over the world, in order to be able to live happily ever after with her boyfriend at the finale!"
There was a silence so awkward after she'd finished speaking that you could literally hear a pin drop. "Etsumi…" Kaede finally mumbled, "Exactly what movie did you watch?"
Whoops… guess I sidetracked a little there, huh? "Ahem, s-s-sorry!" Etsumi stuttered in embarrassment. "Now, what I really want to know is how on Earth you managed to get the guts to confess to Yuuki-kun?"
"Um… actually, to be perfectly honest with you, he confessed to me."
Oh. Well, that answered about a good eighty percent of her questions. But even with that revelation, Etsumi continued to have a goofy smirk plastered on her face. Yuuki being the instigator still didn't answer all of her questions. "Kaede, tell me everything from beginning to end. After falling for Yuuki-kun for ages on end, just how did you manage to get him to reciprocate your feelings?"
"Uhhhhhh…" Kaede started, elongating the word in an effort to buy time.
However, unfortunately for her, the stalling trick didn't work on her best friend. "Don't need to be shy! Just tell me everything, Kaede! Make sure not to spare me a single detail!" Etsumi all but yelled into the phone mouthpiece. It was certainly too bad for Kaede that Etsumi didn't care about her phone bill, because the tomboy was definitely going to be on the line for quite a while!
Deep within the Muglox World, there existed a sacred haven hidden behind an elaborate network of caves. This land was known as the Gaian Village, which consisted of five palaces. This was the place where the five most powerful fairies in existence lived. Those fairies were of course, the Gaia Tribe.
Each Gaian lived in one of the five elemental-themed palace, spread out in a pentagram formation to signify the balance they held between the elements. In the very middle of the clearing, there was a shrine underneath a sacred tree. This sacred tree was the capital of the Gaia Tribe's village, and the main gathering point for all of them to meet if necessary.
At this very moment, the five worried fairies were gathered at the marble shrine to discuss a matter that was of great importance. It wasn't often that the Gaia Tribe members found themselves coming into an argument. The last time they had gotten into a serious argument, it had almost overrun the Muglox World. Ever since then, the group have been very cautious to avoid another debacle.
And yet…
"You know Fia, you really should have anticipated this. After all, you're the stubborn one." Aqua taunted, his lips curled slightly upwards into a tiny smirk. If he calculated it just about right, Fia would scream at him right about…
"Gah! I might be stubborn, Aqua, but I'm not stupid! Not unlike this fairy, who… argh! He's an idiot!" Fia threw his arms out.
…right about now. Aqua chortled to himself. Too predictable!
Donta spared the two bickering fairies a glance. "Who's an idiot?" he asked in a flat tone.
Fia, insulted by the question, quickly barked back, "You know the one… Mirumo, that fairy with the blue hat!"
"There were two fairies that had come here dressed in blue, Fia," Win teased. "Which one are you talking about?"
"GRAH! The one with golden-blonde hair! Come on! How can all of you not remember who Mirumo is?!" Fia yelled, his volume getting close to a scream.
Aqua snickered to himself. Fia was so wrapped up in his anger that he didn't realize that the rest of the group were all collectively messing with him. After all, they all knew who Mirumo was perfectly well. As a matter of fact, they were all rather acquainted with him. Which of course, made this meeting's agenda that much harder for the five Gaia Tribe members.
"Anyway, rules are rules!" Fia turned back to Aqua, "You all know why we enforced this rule, don't you?! So tell me, why should we make an exception for this fairy in particular?"
"Let's not get too hasty, Fia. Mirumo has done much for us. Do you remember the whole Dark incident?" Aqua calmly tried to reason with the raging fairy.
"And that incident is exactly why we can't let him off! When we cut off both worlds, he refused to leave his partner! And now we have a repeat of that incident, even when he explicitly knows that we are obligated to punish him if he isn't in the Fairy World within that sixty-minute grace period!"
"You shouldn't be surprised, Fia." Donta appeared to be bored, as if what he was saying should be common knowledge to the rest of them. "Do you remember what happened when we first met that human?"
"I'm still upset about that! They cheated in my trial!" Win huffed and looked away.
Oh no! Aqua began to get tense. The others are going to bring up Mirumo and Kaede's bond together! All it'll take is one false word here and this whole debate would…
The problem the Gaians were facing was that this was the first time that a fairy had ever broken this specific rule. There was no precedence for this case, so they all had no real idea on how to approach this scenario. What made this even more complex was that the fairy in question happened to be the Crown Prince, Mirumo.
Aqua raised his hand. "Still, the Mic Trials proved that the two's compatibility are genuine."
"That's my point! We all know those two are inseparable! It's probably why he broke the rule!"
Uh oh… Aqua glanced at Fia with a shiver. "Bu-but those two topics are completely unrelated!" he justified, trying to regain control of the debate.
"Oh, shut up! There are no exceptions! Aren't we supposed to be impartial? Just hand Mirumo his punishment and get this whole mess over with!" Fia shot a glare to Aqua, before adding one final remark, "Simple, harsh, and effective! I see no problem with this solution!"
Pikumu spoke up to save Aqua from the ranting Fia. "But not all of us are in favor of this. By our own rules, if we are not unanimous in agreement, we do not proceed until all five of us are convinced on the best approach." She looked around at the other four males, "But since none of us can agree on this unanimously, let's put it to a vote then! After all, there are five of us, so there is no need to worry about any tiebreakers."
Aqua heaved a sigh in relief. Finally, a rational decision was made amidst all of the chaos.
"Yahoo, I agree!" Win cheered, doing an aerial loop-de-loop as he was floating. "I enjoy voting, they are a breeze!" he continued, making sure to exaggerate the word.
There was a collective sigh from the remaining four in the vicinity at the pun. A furious Fia's hair started to go wild at Win's carefree attitude. "Make one more wind pun again, Win! I dare you, you smug little—"
"Hush! Don't get distracted!" Aqua cut in before Fia could derail the entire conversation to the Wind Fairy's habit of making puns.
"But Win does have a point, Fia." Pikumu remarked to the still-fuming Fia. "Right now, this argument is getting us nowhere! We cannot act like spoiled little children. We have to make our stand and vote carefully. If we make a wrong choice now…"
Donta finished everyone's thoughts, completely blunt and to the point. "If we choose poorly, it will not end well. There will be dire consequences for everyone."
Like a group of poker players, the Gaia Tribe members kept their faces neutral, hiding their personal feelings and thoughts about the matter from the others. That is of course, except for Fia. He absolutely could not pull off a poker face, still mumbling under his breath about 'a blue idiot'. As such, the remaining four Gaians pretty much already knew his stance on the debate.
Alright, so it's come down to a vote, eh? Well, Fia definitely wants Mirumo out without a doubt, Aqua thought. So that's one vote locked down. I already know my stand, so I just need to convince two more. We need at least three against two to win this argument. Let's hope for the best! He stood forward, coughing into his hand to get everyone's attention. "Now that the formalities and details of the situation are out of the way, let us all began, shall we?"
"Get this over with already!"
"I agree. Let us not waste time."
"Yahoo!"
"Sure thing, Aqua."
Unknown to Aqua and the rest of the Gaia Tribe, just like another spontaneous meeting held by a separate group of fairies barely half a day ago in the Human World, the next few moments would end up having massive repercussions for all involved.
"Let us discuss the matter at hand now." He looked up at the others with firm blue eyes. "Just should we do with Mirumo?"
"Murumo! What should I do now? Minami-san, she, she…"
Murumo almost scoffed at his partner's whining, but chose to let out a sigh instead. Matsutake wasn't in the best of moods today. No surprise there, honestly. His human partner had been placed in the friend zone, a truly chilling and daunting prospect of any male's life.
Murumo chewed on his marshmallows while looking at Matsutake sobbing his face out. The fairy had neglected to tell him about Kaede and Yuuki hooking up solely because of this reason. Murumo knew that the moment Matsutake-san found out, he would be broken-hearted. As such, he didn't have really the heart to break it to Matsutake directly. But in the end, Murumo had brought him along to the park anyway. It wasn't like he could hide the truth from him forever.
It was truly the irony of ironies. Despite being possibly the most sought-after boy in the entire school, his heart solely belonged to Minami Kaede. Truly, it was unfortunate for him that Kaede didn't harbor any romantic feelings for him. Even Koichi stood a better chance in ending up with her than he ever did.
"Wahhhhh, Hirai!"
"Obocchama!"
Looks like he's calling for his butler again. So predictable, Matsutake-san, Murumo chortled. This was the reason why Murumo loved his partner. Kepapa hadn't been lying when it had said that he and Kaoru were perfectly compatible. Despite his first impression and initial misgivings of the boy, Kaoru had indeed ended up being the best human partner he could have possibly hoped for.
But right now, Matsutake was so upset that even Murumo himself couldn't help but feel down as well. Now the question was: how was he going to help the spoiled boy get over his loss with Kaede? It was certainly a tricky dilemma. Perhaps he could somehow convince him to start over and be with Momo? Gah, but the drawback to that was it would mean living with Yamane. That would be an issue as the Fairy Ninja was crazy around sugar. Too crazy.
Beep-beep!
Murumo yelped, startled by the beeping noise coming from his Fairy Watch. Someone was trying to contact him. His face turned dark as he recovered. What an annoyance! "I'll have to remember to change my ringtone on this watch. It won't look cute for me to get so worked up over an incoming call," he muttered as he accepted the video call.
"Murumo!"
His eyes widened in surprise at the gruff voice. What do you know… it was his father on the line! Murumo immediately switched back to his charming face. "Otou-sama! What is it?" he chirped.
Marumo heaved a sigh, appearing extremely relieved to see Murumo. "Oh, thank goodness, you actually picked up." He coughed into his palm, "Murumo, by any chance would you happen to know where Mirumo is?"
Huh? Why on earth would otou-sama be looking for Mirumo? Just what exactly did he do this time? He couldn't possibly have messed things up so quickly after returning to the Muglox World… could he?
"I don't know, otou-sama," he shrugged. "To be honest, onii-sama's probably with Kaede-san."
"Mirumo can't be with Kaede-san!" Marumo slammed his staff down on the floor. "He can't!"
Murumo inquisitively tilted his head. "Whyever not, otou-sama?"
"That's because… ah, never mind about that." In a blink-and-you-miss-it moment, his father's eyes suddenly widened, his words trailing off. However, the subtle flinch from Marumo wasn't missed by his crafty son.
Gotcha there, otou-sama, Murumo hid a smug grin. Otou-sama really did know about the Gaia Tribe's rule! That had to be why he cut his sentence short. He was going to say why onii-sama must be at the Muglox World, but must have suddenly remembered that I should not know about the reason. Hmph! That pompous, lousy coot!
Murumo folded his arms in irritation as anger simmered within him, almost letting his usual cute mask slip. How dare otou-sama keep something like this from me and onii-sama! He really wanted to let his father have a piece of his mind. But that would mean blowing his cover, and like it or not, he had made a promise to Mirumo not to breathe a word about the Gaia Tribe mandate.
There was a cough from the watch transmission, as Marumo struggled to divert his son's attention to a different topic. "Anyway! You, uh… you really don't know? Because the thing is, Mirumo still isn't here yet!"
"I really have no clue where he is, otou-sama! Onii-sama's probably off celebrating or something!" he shrugged, venturing a guess. "Why are you so frantic to have onii-sama come back to the Muglox World anyway?" Murumo made sure to be very careful with his words. He had asked that question to make it appear as though he didn't know about the Gaia Tribe's rule. After all, if Mirumo-oniisama had never told him, he would have known nothing of it.
Marumo looked uncomfortable hearing those words. "Ne-Never mind about that, Murumo!" he stuttered.
He put on a pouting face. "Otou-sama, are you hiding something from me?" he questioned, eyes boring into the screen. On the other end, Marumo started to fidget. Murumo had to suppress a grin seeing his father squirm. It wasn't often that he could make his carefree dad panic like this!
"I'll tell you later!" Marumo's face turned firm again. "Right now, I just want to double check what you told me in the morning. When I called earlier, you said that Mirumo will grant his partner's wish at noon today, right?"
Murumo was beginning to feel uneasy again. "Yeah, that's correct."
"Did the timing change? Was the wish granted at twelve!?" Marumo asked. There was an edge to his voice. Although it was the exact same question that he'd posed a few hours ago, this time it seemed to hold a new weight to it.
Is that worry I sense in otou-sama's voice? Murumo raised an eyebrow before he answered, "Yeah, it was. I was there myself when it happened. There's a big clock in the park, so of course it was twelve! Right on the dot!"
"Oh, okay. I see…" Marumo's voice just barely cracked for a second, "Thank you." Abruptly, the video transmission ended.
Murumo held his hand to his chin in thought. Why would his father want Mirumo back to the Muglox World so much? Was he that much of a stickler for the rules? But then again, why did Marumo sound so frantic? It wasn't as if Mirumo-oniisama would break that rule. He had pretty much assured everyone at the park meeting that he would quietly go back to the Muglox World. So why would…
Murumo suddenly froze in his thoughts.
Don't tell me that onii-sama went back on his word?!
Shaking his head deftly, Murumo raised his arm again and tried to contact Mirumo on his Fairy Watch. He was going to need answers from his brother, right this moment. A flat dial tone signaling that Mirumo was not available was the only response that he got.
Oh, come on! Why won't onii-sama answer?
Giving up on a video transmission, he picked up his Fairy Mobile and dialled Mirumo's phone number instead.
Beep!
Straight to voicemail! Murumo clenched the phone in his palm. Dang, that idiot must have switched off his phone! Now I have no way to contact him! Where the heck are you? Surely you're fine, onii-sama? You went back to the Muglox World, right?
Then again, it was Mirumo. He was a rebellious, stubborn brat. Knowing his brother's personality, Murumo had a bad feeling about this. Who was the last person to have contact with Mirumo, he wondered, trying to fight down his panic.
It's Rirumu-san!
"Matsutake-san! I'm off for a while! I need to go somewhere urgently! Bye!"
Even in his current state of distraught, Kaoru was able to sense that something did not fit right with what his partner had just said. "Wait, Murumo!"
However, by the time Kaoru turned around to look at the table of marshmallows where Murumo had been, his partner was already gone.
"I've already made my stand, so I'm not repeating it!"
"You're just stubborn, Fia!" Aqua chuckled. "All right, you all can also guess my stand based on my argument with Fia earlier, can't you? So who would like to give their views next?"
Win flailed his arms wildly around. "Me, me, me! Pick me! Pick me!"
Aqua grinned. "Donta should go next." he pointed at the Earth Fairy, deliberately skipping over Win.
"Awwwwwwwwww!" Win whined at the Water Fairy, "Aqua, you meanie."
"Lighten up, Win!" Aqua jovially smiled at the sulking fairy, "Anyway, don't take this too seriously, Donta. Just relax and state your stand!"
Seeing all eyes on him, Donta started to speak, "Well, this might be an unpopular opinion, but I personally agree with Fia."
Aqua's eyes widened in surprise. This was mildly unexpected.
"He does have a point. Mirumo deliberately went against our rules. And he's next in line to the throne. As someone who would rule the Muglox World as its king one day, such reckless behavior cannot be forgiven that easily." Donta shook his head. "Believe me, I do not wish to do this. I am personally rather fond for him myself, but the thing is that we also can't take this too lightly."
"Wow," Win stared at the Earth Fairy. "I think that is the longest that I've heard Donta speak for a long time." He floated around, moving to the center of the shrine. "Anyway, it's my turn!"
"But Win, I never said it was your turn—"
Win continued to speak, acting as though he hadn't heard Aqua, "I think we should let just him go though. Mirumo has saved our hide before. Maybe we can close one eye, just this once?"
Fia raised an eyebrow. "Weren't you just complaining about the two of them cheating in your trial?"
"Fia!" Aqua scolded. "Don't go off the topic! It's Win's decision!" He glanced around the group with a smile on his face. It appeared that at the moment, the vote was tied, two for two.
"Oh, my!" Pikumu softly laughed, looking around. "It looks like I'm the tiebreaker vote. How stressful!"
"There's no need to fret," Donta mumbled. "Just pick without any bias. Don't let anyone influence you, Pikumu." As he said that, he kept his eye on both Aqua and Fia, causing Aqua to look away sheepishly. On the other hand, Fia just didn't care.
Although he was slightly ashamed at getting caught out, Aqua couldn't help but clasp his palms together in excitement. This should be good, he thought as he glanced towards the pondering fairy. Pikumu is the nice one, so she would almost certainly let Mirumo off the hook. He glanced to his left, making eye contact with Fia. Just from that one single glance, Aqua could see the fury in Fia's eyes. It was quite evident to him that the agitated fairy must have come to the same conclusion as he did.
"Hm…" Pikumu began, her eyes deep in thought. After what seemed like an eternity, she finally made her choice. "After much consideration, I think that we should… punish Mirumo."
What? Aqua's jaw dropped at her answer. He continued to blink his eyes in disbelief. Did Pikumu really just…?
He wasn't the only one who was stunned by Pikumu's response. "What!?" Fia shouted, his hair flaring up. It looked as though he didn't believe what he was hearing either.
"Oh, please let me explain." She held up a hand to calm the others from freaking out. "You see, I am in agreement with everyone here. Both Aqua and Win are fighting for leniency, and in a normal situation I would certainly grant him leeway given everything that Mirumo has done to help us," she explained. "However, in this case, Donta and Fia are absolutely right. We cannot let Mirumo cross this line and get away with it with a slap on the wrist. Letting him off scot-free would undermine our authority as the Gaia Tribe."
Fia pumped his fist up into the air. "Yes, that's absolutely right! We as the Gaia Tribe have always operated based on a hands-off system. The monarchy, or should I say, the royal family, takes control of most affairs. We just handle all the important stuff like magic! Fairies know about us from folklore and hence worship us! Can you imagine what would happen if word got out that the Muglox King refused to take orders from the Gaia Tribe?" he asked, looking at the others one by one. "No one in the Muglox World would take us seriously anymore!"
"Besides, Aqua…" Pikumu began in a tone that caused the Water Fairy to wince. He didn't have a good feeling at being singled out. "Yes? What is it?" he tentatively prodded.
"Don't play dumb." Pikumu looked at him with teasing eyes. "You know as I do the reason that this rule was drafted up. This happens to be a prime example of why we made the rule to begin with, isn't it?"
Aqua cursed in his heart. Pikumu had actually remembered the reason they made the rule! Since it applied completely for a situation like this, the whole thing was pretty much over once she brought it up.
"Anyhow, it appears that the final tally is three for and two against. I'm sorry, Aqua, Win, but it looks like we are going ahead."
"Don't be sorry! I don't blame you, Pikumu." Aqua gently replied. He turned to the group, bowing slightly. "You've all made good points regarding this. I concede."
Win landed on the ground, quite a rarity for the airborne fairy. "As do I! That debate was fun while it lasted…"
"Good! Now let's get Mirumo's punishment proceedings started already!"
Aqua looked away at Fia's snide taunt with a small puff. The tables had turned on the Water Fairy quite unexpectedly. He hadn't expected the meeting to end in victory for Fia. And if he was to be honest, Aqua felt that Fia hadn't expected to win either.
"So now that we are unanimous," Fia raised his arm to catch the attention of everyone in the shrine, "Let's talk about Mirumo's punishment! I personally think that we should…"
Aqua continued listening to Fia's rant, keeping his usual smile up on the outside. But on the inside, his heart was filled with sorrow.
I'm so sorry, Mirumo! I honestly tried my very best to save you for Kaede's sake! But it looks like now, we have no choice but to follow through. I just hope that you and Kaede can find it in your hearts to forgive us…
Author's Note:
Edited & Rewritten on 6/7/2018.
The fabled Gaia Tribe finally makes their grand appearance! Thus, we are officially out of canon territory as of now!
