Chapter 8: Memories of Mic
"…and that's how it all happened, Etsumi!"
Kaede was beginning to suspect that her best friend was beginning to regret her choice of words, especially since those words had led to the two of them being on the phone for the past hour or so.
Nah, Kaede shook her head. It's Etsumi we're talking about here. She wouldn't care about her phone bill for a chance to talk with me! Plus, it's been quite a while since I last chatted with Etsumi like this! We have so much to catch up on!
After being rather forcefully persuaded by Etsumi, Kaede had told her best friend everything that had happened over the past few months on her phone. Of course, 'everything' meant all the perfectly normal things, with her leaving out quite a few details. It went without saying that she had to be careful to leave out any mention of love fairies. There was no way that she could explain anything Muglox related to her.
Try explaining this! An invisible love fairy, or Muglox, stays in your house and grants your wishes with fairy magic. If Kaede even tried, Etsumi would stare at her like she was crazy. The disbelief on her face would be priceless if they were actually talking in person.
There was no way that Etsumi would buy any of it. This was the 21st century, not some contemporary fairy tale!
"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!"
Etsumi had no idea just how right she was…
Her whole life might as well be a movie. So much chaos had happened to her ever since Mirumo had become her fairy partner. When she had actually recounted to Etsumi about the story of her life during previous year without Mirumo and the others, it all seemed so… empty.
Oh, just a few classes. Also, I got the courage to talk to Yuuki-kun more because of Rirum-I mean, Morishita-san! And oh, there's this new guy in my class called Sumita-kun!
Basically, just a perfectly normal life of a Japanese middle-school student…
"Oi, Minami."
Kaede embarrassingly squeaked, looking across the table to see that Setsu had just mouthed her name with a cheeky grin on his face. "Don't you think that's a bit of an under-exaggeration of everything that we've gone through?" he whispered in a voice that was not loud enough for Etsumi to pick up on the other end of the phone.
Yeah, she pondered. The recount of the last year of her life had went was actually really generic without the mention of any fairies. Without them, it was almost like the life of a regular schoolgirl. Just how much had she been through ever since she met that stubborn love fairy, Mirumo? There were so many things that came to her mind. So many fun times, so much chaos, and so many obstacles…
As she thought back to the past, one particular incident of note immediately sprang to the forefront of Kaede's mind.
"That is the Dark Magic Crystal! Just one glance and you will fall under the influence of whoever owns it!"
Looking back, although they were mostly a joke now, the Warumo Gang's very first appearance had been a huge wake-up call to Kaede about the dangers and stakes that having a fairy partner would entail. Before this, sure, there had been some unfortunate situations that she had been put through, usually involving the duo of Hidaka-san and Yashichi trying to impede her love progress with Yuuki-kun. But in the end, it was all harmless fun with Mirumo's help.
As a result, nothing, nothing had prepared her for a situation like what had happened on that day itself.
Close to a year ago…
"Kaede!" Mirumo shouted, slamming straight into Kaede's face.
"Mirumo!" she winced, before turning to her fallen fairy partner on the ground. "That hurt!"
"Gah, I'm sorry!" he apologized before his voice turned serious. "Listen to me! Don't look at the thing that Azumi's holding! That is the Dark Magic Crystal! Just one glance and you will fall under the influence of whoever owns it!"
Fall under the influence of whoever owns it?!
She immediately averted her eyes from Azumi, thanking her lucky stars that Mirumo's surprise attack had managed to take her attention away from that accursed object.
"Hidaka-san!" she yelled. Kaede didn't even try to disguise the fury in her voice. "Why are you doing this? Is this Yashichi's doing again?" Because if it was, that was certainly a low blow, even for her usual standards. Still, Kaede didn't put it past Hidaka-san to try something funny again. After all, the clingy girl had previously used Yashichi's magic to her advantage multiple times before to try and break Yuuki-kun and her apart.
"This isn't Yashichi, Kaede!" Mirumo yelled. "The Dark Magic Crystal is made from pure darkness itself. Only someone skilled in black magic can create it!"
Well, speak of the devil and they shall appear. Immediately after Mirumo had finished, a gruff voice cut in from behind the duo, "Tsk tsk, Prince Mirumo. Trust you to get in our way yet again."
She and Mirumo turned to the parapet to look for the source of the voice. Five caped black figures stared down at them.
Wait, weren't they…
"Aren't you the Warumo Gang?" she asked, looking warily at the one with the number '1' etched in red on the cloak around his forehead. That's their leader, isn't it, Kaede recalled. If she remembered right, the last time they met, Mirumo had said that his name was Ichirou. How fitting it was that 'ichi', the Japanese name for one was in his name.
"I'm flattered that you remember us, human," Ichirou spoke, before focusing his attention to her partner. "Prince Mirumo! We have returned for a rematch!"
Seeing Ichirou's enthusiasm, Mirumo gave a bored look. "So you've come back for another beating, just like the one I handed you yesterday?" he said dismissively in the cockiest tone that he could muster up.
"On the contrary…" Ichirou brought up his hand and snapped his fingers. Right on cue, two new fairies appeared from behind the five cloaked members.
"I've come to give you an engagement present, Mirumo-sama. A violent one!"
"Onii-sama! I'm going to get you now, you lousy excuse of a big brother!"
"Huh?!" Both human and fairy couldn't keep the squeaks of disbelief out of their voices. Rirumu-chan and Murumo-san, Kaede thought with shock. But why would they be with the Warumo Gang?! Hold on, what's with that black mark on their forehead…
"Oh, that reverse black star? That is the symbol of black magic. Black magic is harnessed from darkness incarnate, and taints all who use it with a symbol on their head."
That was what Mirumo had told her after she had asked about the Warumo Gang's logo. But why would it be on them?
"Just one glance and you will fall under the influence of whoever owns it!"
Oh, don't tell me… Her mind thought with rising despair.
"Ichirou!" Mirumo pointed an angered finger at the Warumo Gang leader. "You utter scumbag!" Judging by the outrage in his voice, Kaede realized that they had reached the same conclusion.
Both Murumo and Rirumu had to be brainwashed!
"Gahahahha! Your deduction is correct." The smug Ichirou proceeded to give a signal, and like a toy listening to a remote control, both Rirumu and Murumo stepped forward to surround Mirumo in an arc formation. Seeing the fairies obey him, Ichirou couldn't resist a smirk. "What irony, Prince Mirumo! It appears that you will be defeated by your very own friends and family!"
"Your very own friends and family!" came a chorus from the remaining Warumo Gang members.
Kaede shook her head in denial. What? No! This can't be happening! Rirumu-chan and Murumo-chan had to be okay! They can't be…
"Rirumu-chan! Murumo-chan!" she cried, "Snap out of it!"
"It's not going to work, Kaede!" Mirumo hissed at her, keeping his eye on Rirumu and Murumo. "They are both completely under the crystal's influence!"
"H-how could you do something like this?!" Kaede asked, directing her attention to the Warumo Gang.
"Because we're evil, of course!"
Kaede gaped at their response. Well, that certainly wasn't a very informative answer to her question at all!
Meanwhile, Mirumo stared at both Rirumu and Murumo. They both had looks of pure hate in their faces, their current expressions being nothing similar to the two fairies who he knew. "That's not fair! You can't make me fight them!" He sounded desperate, as though he didn't expect the Warumo Gang to resort to such extremes.
Ichirou waved his hand dismissively. "We're the bad guys. We don't have to play by the rules!"
"Please!" Kaede begged with a quiver in her voice. "Please leave Rirumu-chan and Murumo-chan out of this…"
"Not a chance, human girl. This is our chance to finally win!" Seeing that he had the upper hand, Ichirou cocked his head triumphantly. "This time you'll be the one beaten up, Mirumo! Now! Get the Muglox Prince!"
The two hypnotised fairies immediately targeted Mirumo down with their magic, not wasting any time in following the Warumo Gang's orders.
"Rirumu de Pon!"
"Murumo de Pon!"
She cringed at that memory. That incident had taught her one very valuable lesson. Despite the fact that Muglox Fairies were omnipotent wish granting beings, they were not invincible. At all. With Mirumo's current skill level at that point, he couldn't take on both his fiancée and younger brother's magic simultaneously. To put it bluntly, he was quite unceremoniously defeated.
Thinking back, Kaede realized that it was kind of her fault. At the very end, Rirumu and Murumo had targeted her instead, and while Mirumo had protected her from the shots, he did so at the cost of taking direct hits. Despite appearing like a selfish brat on the surface, Mirumo certainly had a heart when it counted.
Kaede looked down with shame. To this very day, she could still remember cradling Mirumo's injured unconscious body in her hand and running off the school roof, sprinting away from the laughing Warumo Gang with tears threatening to fall from her eyes.
What a wake-up call indeed!
Up to that point, she had assumed that all the Muglox were firmly on the side of righteousness and good. And why would they not be? Rirumu and Murumo's personalities had pretty much set up and sealed that impression of the Muglox Fairies. Mirumo himself might be stubborn and bratty, but that was just an attitude problem, and she'd assumed that it was simply an isolated case.
Besides Yashichi, who was really more mischievous than anything, she had never actually seen an evil fairy armed with the power of magic until she had met the Warumo Gang. At first, when Mirumo had beaten them with even less trouble than he had with Yashichi, she had thought that they were simply a bunch of bullies.
The Dark Magic Crystal proved her very wrong. Not only could fairies be evil, but with magic on their side, they can be quite competent at their jobs as well. There was no better example there than Akumi until she had repented and changed her ways. But before Akumi, Rat, and Dark, the Warumo Gang was her first taste of such cruelty.
Since no normal human could see them, the devastation that could be caused by evil fairies truly was terrifying. This also meant that she and her friends, being the only ones who can see the troublemakers, were usually the ones who had to stop their havoc. Such responsibility was the price to pay for having a fairy prince as her partner. Her life would be full of adventure, whether she wanted it or not.
Before the Time Gem, the whole affair with Saori and Dark, and the Crystal Land war between both factions, the Dark Magic Crystal was her first foray into being dragged into constant chaos.
And yet, in an ironic way, the Warumo Gang's Dark Magic Crystal had also been responsible for her getting closer to Mirumo. Determined to get stronger to defeat the Warumos, Mirumo had asked Mimomo the shopkeeper for help and was given instructions to find the legendary musical instrument, the Mic.
Getting the Mic was one of the most surreal moments of her life. It was something Kaede could never forget.
A few hours after the Warumo Incident…
Kaede was not having a good day. After finding their way through a complex cave system of monsters, she and Mirumo had finally made it to the legendary Gaia Tribe themselves. All they had to do was ask for the Mic to defeat the Warumo Gang. Easy, right?
Oh, how wrong they were. The Gaia Tribe weren't so willing to give up their precious instrument so easily and had thus demanded for an offering at the shrine under the sacred tree.
The first obvious problem to their predicament was that the Gaians weren't going to explicitly say what the offering was.
The second was that to get hints as to what the shrine offering was supposed to be, they needed to pass trials set by the Gaia Tribe members themselves.
The third was that the trials set by the Gaians were frankly ridiculous. From baking potatoes, to digging a trench, and even chasing the Fairy of Wind in a game of tag. To further aggravate the issue, not a single one of their trials had been easy. She and Mirumo were flat out exhausted by the end after they'd finally completed all the trials, with the trials themselves wasting a ton of precious time that they once had in the process.
The last, and perhaps also the biggest problem, was that despite now having all five hints in their hands, they still had no clue as to what the offering was supposed to be!
But could you blame them? The hints were all a bunch of oxymorons! Every time she ventured a guess that seemed as though it would solve the riddle, another one of the hints would contradict her theory. Hot as fire but reflective like water at the same time? Soft as soil, yet flows like the wind, and also as volatile as clouds? This seemed like a riddle that belonged as a million-dollar prize question on a game show.
"Ahhhh!" Kaede groaned as she racked her mind for the answer. "They're just saying all of these hints because it's the Gaia Tribe members own attributes! Fire, water, earth, wind, and clouds! Mirumo!" she grumbled, looking at her partner. "You see it too, right? They're messing with us! I can't think of a single thing that fits all those criteria!"
The fairy was folding his arms, staring at the middle of the shrine in contempt. "If they don't want to give the Mic to us, they should at least tell us straight out instead of making us do those stupid trials!"
"Mirumo, don't insult them!" she admonished, even though she did feel the same way in her heart.
"Kaede," Mirumo stretched his arms up in mental exhaustion, "Admit it. You can't think of anything either."
The worst part was that Mirumo was absolutely right. Kaede was absolutely stumped. There wasn't a single guess she could make.
At her distraught face, Mirumo walked up to his partner, putting his hand on her shoulders. "There's no time left, Kaede. We have to go."
No time left. Those chilling words continued to echo in her mind. Being a prince, Mirumo was able to allow her access to the Muglox World, the fairies' home. Only members of the Royal Family could cast the Human Transformation spell, which temporarily gives humans a fairy form.
However, the spell has one drawback. There was a hard twenty-four-hour limit imposed on her transformation. If she remained for any longer than that, she would be stuck in the Muglox World forever.
One day was all she had, and out of those twenty-four hours, twenty-three of them were already gone. Now, she only had a mere hour left…
But if she gave up now, then all her friends would continue to be under the Warumo Gang's control. Her eyes turned misty at the thought.
"No." She shook her head in denial, making up her mind right there and then. "I'm not going back until it's ours!"
Mirumo glanced down at his Fairy Watch, clicking his tongue in annoyance. "What for? Are you even listening to me, Kaede? I'm giving up on the Mic! We don't need to get it from those stubborn Gaia Tribe members! I'll get stronger on my own and beat the Warumo Gang without their help!"
"Mirumo!" she snarled at her partner's suggestion. "We're going to figure out this riddle!"
Realizing Kaede was adamant about staying, he started getting frantic. "Oi, Kaede! Don't sacrifice your life for this! If you stay here for any longer, you can never return to the Human World! Use your head, Kaede! Don't make a decision like this out of pure recklessness!"
For Kaede, it was truly a sadistic choice. Either she stayed here for the next one hour to solve the puzzle and run the very real risk of being unable to return…
…or she takes Mirumo's advice. Return to the Human World without the power of the Mic and let Mirumo train for stronger magic at the cost of more time.
But if she did that, then how long would her friends continue to be under the Warumo Gang's mind control? By the time Mirumo got stronger, the Warumo Gang would have definitely brainwashed even more people.
Numbers weren't on Mirumo's sides. Already he couldn't beat Rirumu and Murumo, who together amounted to a grand total of just two fairies. What if the Warumos got even more fairies on their side?
She remembered the Mirumo Tribe members she met earlier in the day. All of Mirumo's friends — Peta-san, Bike-san, Gabin-san, Mambo-san, Anna-chan…
Nothing was stopping the Warumo Gang from waltzing into the village and letting loose their artifact of doom there. What if they all of Mirumo's friends ended up being brainwashed too? Was Mirumo even able to win against such power? Would her friends Rirumu-chan and Murumo-chan ever be free?
At the thought of it all, Kaede started to sob. Seeing her cry, Mirumo tilted his head. "Kaede?"
Mirumo was wrong… he had to be! This was their one and only shot. If they lost this chance, then it was highly likely that they might never be able to defeat the Warumo Gang.
Kaede decided right there and then that she was going to figure out the Gaia Tribe's puzzle, even if it meant taking a risk like this! She would get the Mic and save everyone as soon as possible. Hidaka-san, Yuuki-kun, Matsutake-san, Rirumu-chan, and Murumo-chan! She would save them all! She would help Mirumo beat the Warumo Gang! Even if it meant—
"Correct!"
A chorus of voices echoed from atop the shrine, interrupting her thoughts.
Huh?
She and Mirumo ran out of the shrine and saw the sacred tree above them starting to glow with the silhouettes of five fairies floating above them.
Th-those are the Gaia Tribe! Her mind was in a whirl as the five above them began to grin.
"You've guessed right! It's as hot and genuine as blazing fire…"
"…reflects happiness and sadness like a reservoir of water…"
"…as soft as the soil in the earth and yet has unbelievable strength…"
"…flows transparently just like a breeze in the wind…"
"…and as whimsical and volatile as a cloud in the sky."
What? What did she do? She looked at Mirumo and he just shrugged in response.
"Oh my! Did you just guess the offering?" Pikumu chuckled when she observed that the duo had very puzzled expressions on their faces. "Dear human, the answer to our riddle… is tears."
Tears?!
"Of course the answer had to be obvious in retrospect!" Mirumo grumbled under his breath, "It just had to be!"
Win gave a hearty laugh at Mirumo's blunt statement. "Well even if it was, the fact of the matter is that you've shed your tears for someone. That shows great strength and courage."
"Not to mention that you've managed to beat all our trials," Donta continued. "I think that you two have proven your worth." As he finished, he gestured to the center of the marble shrine, where the human-fairy duo both saw a pink microphone slowly faded into view.
That's the…!
"This is the Microphone instrument, or the Mic for short," Aqua spoke with a smile. "It can be used as a support tool to boost another fairy's magic by a factor of three. To activate its power, just say these magic words — Mirumon Mirumon Purikurimu."
Kaede hesitantly took the mythical instrument from the center of the shrine, just as Fia started talking. "From now on, this Mic belongs to you. Go ahead and take it, girl. You've earned it." He turned his scowl into a small smile, "Use it well, human."
Clutching the Mic in her palm like a lifeline, Kaede felt relief swirling around in her heart. Everything was going to be okay after all! With the Mic, they now stood a chance against the evil Warumo Gang!
"Thank you all!" Kaede said with sincerity. Words could not describe the joy that she felt as she held onto the Mic.
"No problem!" Aqua replied as he rubbed the back of his head.
Pikumu then floated downwards, pointing towards the cave that they had entered from earlier. "But isn't about time that you got going?" she prompted just as Mirumo glanced down at is Fairy Watch and yelped.
"Kaede! Hurry up!" he said as he grabbed her free hand. "We've got to get back to the Human World now!" As the two departed, rushing back to the transfer dome as fast as they possibly could before time ran out, Kaede heard all five members of the Gaia Tribe wishing their farewells.
"We will always be watching the two of you!" all five of them said, their voice travelling across the winds even as the duo left the Gaian Village.
"Mirumon Mirumon Purikurimu!"
With their combined power, she and Mirumo had managed to stop the Warumo Gang and snap her friends out of their brainwashing. Although she was forced to give up the Mic later, that moment when she had gotten the Mic was forever stuck in her mind. They had truly worked together in the Gaian trials, for the first time of many to come.
The Gaia Tribe's parting words turned out to be right. Their compatibility together as partners was flawless. Since then, she and the others had gotten into so many flight-or-fight situations, and they managed to pull through all of it with teamwork.
"Kaede… hello? Kaede! Are you still there? You've been quiet for a while!"
She sighed in dismay as Etsumi's voice buzzed on the phone. Those were her proudest moments, and yet she couldn't tell any of it to her best friend. It was just so infuriating!
"Yeah. I'm fine, Etsumi." She hated keeping secrets, but there was not a single chance that Etsumi would understand.
"You should some water if your throat is getting hoarse from all that talking. Sorry to keep you held up for so long! See you next time, Kaede!"
Mumbling a goodbye, Kaede hung up the phone, before bringing her fist down on the table. I can't even bring myself to tell Etsumi anything about the Muglox! I mean, sure, she most likely wouldn't believe a thing I said if I told her anything about wish granting fairies, but still! What kind of a friend am I?
"Minami-san."
Oops! Kaede's hands flew to her mouth in embarrassment at the voice. Across her table was Yuuki-kun, who had flinched at her sudden outburst… and she had just banged the table in front of him, hadn't she?
Gah! Her face went red. She was so bad at relationships!
Wait, her face turned contemplative as she went back to her previous thought. That sounded very much like something Mirumo had said earlier on.
"Eh, uh, you know me, Kaede. I'm terrible at relationships. Look at me and Rirumu!"
Wait one second! Did Mirumo admit that he was bad at his relationship with Rirumu-chan? That means…
Kaede grinned.
It meant the fairy actually cared about the relationship between the two. Now this was definite blackmail material.
"Yuuki-kun," she asked in a predatory voice, "Where's Rirumu-chan?"
Setsu looked at his shoulder by instinct. "Oh, she's not here right now. I think she might be at home."
Darn! Oh well, she could tell Rirumu later. She can already imagine Mirumo's bashful face as he tried to deny everything. In fact, she could even guess what he would say.
"W-what? Me? Caring about Rirumu? Oh, please! I would never say something like that! You must have misheard me!"
She chuckled to herself at the thought. To be fair, that sentence had to be a slip of Mirumo's tongue. The proud fairy she knew would never admit something like that willingly. Still, she wouldn't let poor Mirumo ever live this down for the next few days.
Setsu sighed as he saw his girlfriend break out into laughter for no apparent reason. "Besides, if Rirumu was here right now, don't you think I would have been chatting to her instead of listening to your phone conversation?"
Hearing that comment, it hit Kaede square in the face that for her official first date with Setsu, she had just dragged him to listen to two squabbling girls talking on the phone for about an hour. Fearing the worst, she looked at Setsu's face. Sure enough, he looked unbelievably bored.
"I'm so sorry!"
Setsu smiled. "It's fine, Kaede."
"It's just that… I was just thinking about Mirumo. He's always been there for me, ever since the beginning."
The beginning… Maybe I should talk more about the beginning!
She continued, "I already know the wish that you made when you summoned Rirumu-chan, but did you know about the wish that I made when I'd summoned Mirumo?"
Setsu had an amused look at her words. "I can guess," he said as he gently shook his head.
"Yep! I wished we would be together, and now that wish is finally granted!"
Wish granted…
The glowing mug…
Kaede suddenly clutched her forehead in pain. As she winced, a flash of memory suddenly hit her mind at full force.
"You must come back immediately after your partner's wish has been granted. The time limit is one hour and that's final! Do you hear me!?"
Wait, Kaede thought as she began to have a migraine from the flashes of memory. That voice belonged to Mirumo's otou-san, Marumo-sama! What's this about coming back immediately to the Muglox World? Why didn't I remember this before now? Urk…!
"Kaede! Kaede! Are you okay?" Setsu stood up from his chair in shock upon seeing Kaede clutching her head in pain. But despite his efforts to help, she ignored Setsu as she continued to see visions of events in her head.
"Kaede! You're such a stubborn girl! Go and see Yuuki-kun tomorrow! You've waited your whole life for this! Don't throw it all away for me!"
"I won't do it! I refuse to lose you, Mirumo!"
"Please, Kaede! I'm begging you… don't do this!"
"I said no! No means no!"
"Do it, you stubborn girl!" Mirumo yelled with fury. "Go and see Yuuki tomorrow!"
She made sure to yell back at Mirumo with pure defiance in her eyes. "Absolutely not!"
Kaede gasped as she fell back to the floor. Now with dawning terror, she remembered what had really happened the previous night. Mirumo's father, her fight with Mirumo… everything!
"I'm so sorry, Kaede… please forgive me! This is for your own good! Mirumo de Pon!"
Her face turned pale as the implications of what Mirumo had done hit her square in the face. He had cast a memory erasure spell on her!
But that meant…
"Once a fairy grants his or her partner's true wish, the partnership between the two is cancelled and you would be unable to enter the Human World again."
Kaede's eyes widened to the size of marbles as she finished her thought process using logical deduction.
Mirumo wiping her memory and letting her follow through with her relationship with Yuuki-kun… meant that she could never see the fairy ever again!
Author's Note:
Edited & Rewritten on 4/8/2018.
I'm not going to lie. In my opinion, the very first appearance of the Warumo Gang (Episodes 15 to 17) had arguably what was their most sinister plan. The only time they even came close as a threat after that was perhaps Episodes 64 & 65, but that was a tag team with Akumi, and they were following orders, so… meh.
So yeah, Kaede knows about Mirumo's big plan now. Uh, oops?
