If you thought I was gonna neglect the other mermaid princesses and not let them have their own love lives, better think again. Cause now we get to see one particular mermaid rekindle that very spark. Hehe.

Again, I do not own Mermaid Melody. (Just in case that hasn't been made clear for the umpteenth time).

Enjoy.

Chapter 10: Purple Heart Dilemma

A bright and sunny afternoon greeted Karen as she went down with Noelle and Coco to sunbathe at the beach. Luchia and the others were all at school, so they decided to take the opportunity to get away from the stresses Nikora had planned for them.
"Ah, the sun feels just right, doesn't it?" Coco sighed in delight.
"Too true." Noelle commented, "Today feels perfect."
After setting up, all three girls were lying on their beach towels, catching a good amount of rays. At least until,
"Aw! We forgot the food!" Coco whined.
"The food?" Noelle quizzed, adjusting her sunglasses.
"The food I worked really hard to make last night. It took me nearly forever to make it."
With a reluctant sigh, Karen offered, "I'll find it for you. I shouldn't be long." Then she took off on her newly-acquired errand.

Once back at Pearl Piari, Karen went to work sifting through the mounds of other food to find Coco's prepared food. But to her, it was like finding a needle in a haystack. Everything looked so alike, it was hard to really discern which food was the kitchen's, and which was for them.
"Geez Coco." she muttered under her breath, "Why didn't you just put the food somewhere where we could find it." During her search, Karen opened a cupboard that was stacked rather profusely. When she opened the cabinet, everything came tumbling down on top of her.
After the mess finally settled, Karen popped out of the messy pile and whined, "Coco!" She knew her friend was still unaccustomed to living in the human world, but the least she could do was learn. Luckily, she found the picnic basket with the food.
But as she grabbed it, someone in the foyer spoke, "Karen? Was that you?" the voice instantly sparked a sense of familiarity in Karen. But it was a familiarity she thought she would never experience again.
"It couldn't be..." she told herself. Karen quickly dug her way out of the mess and rushed to the lobby. When she arrived, she saw Nikora helping a young gentleman. The man had sandy-blond hair and deep, blue eyes. His attire was finely dressed, with an orange collared shirt and tan slacks. Behind him looked to be a ton of scientific equipment of various uses.
"Ah, Karen. There you are." Nikora greeted, "We have a new guest staying with us. Allow me to introduce-"
"Subaru!" Karen gasped, recognizing her old colleague she worked with back in the South Pole.
"What a surprise to see you here, Karen." Subaru greeted. Karen couldn't believe her luck. How did Subaru end up here of all places?

After changing out of her bathing suit, Karen helped Subaru bring his luggage up to his room.
After much time had passed, Subaru set the last piece of equipment on his new desk and announced, "There. All finished." Sighing with relief, Karen looked at the tools Subaru brought with him. Much of it had screens or radio dishes attached to various pieces of equipment strewn throughout the room.
Curious, Karen asked, "What are you going to do with all of this?"
"I was sent here on a special assignment." he replied, "There is supposed to be a group of some strange sea creatures living in the area around here."
"Strange sea creatures? But, Subaru, aren't you monitoring the South Pole?"
"That is what I'm supposed to do. But I got drafted from the research division to investigate strange occurrences here." Immediately, Karen became concerned. There had been a lot of strange occurrences going on with Dr. Hishki and the water demons trying to capture her and the others. But, would it really attract Subaru's attention? And more importantly, why would it attract his attention?
Booting up his equipment, Subaru assured, "But, I won't know what I'm researching until I find it."
"Yeah. Hard to know what it is you're looking for until you find it." Karen shrugged sheepishly.
Before she left the room, though, Subaru spoke out, "Oh Karen, one more thing. If you ever need any help, I will gladly give it."
"Uh, thank you, Subaru." she blushed. And Karen left the room. But she still wondered what Subaru was up to.

Once Karen left, Subaru pulled out a tape recorder and recorded,
Day 1, Subaru Crawford Hashimoto. Have just arrived at suspected target location known as Pearl Piari. No immediate threat of detection. I wager our target is still at large, and has accomplices with them. With any luck, they will come out of hiding with my presence here.
Side note: I have met my old colleague Karen here as well. My hope is that I might be able to discover where my target is before she falls into this danger. I will protect her. End log.

Just as Karen came down from helping Subaru, she encountered Luchia and the other three mermaid princesses coming back from school.
"Geez Luchia, the teacher only asked you to recite the formulas." Hanon chastised.
"You weren't any help." Luchia retorted, "You couldn't even tell the class what they were either."
"Oi, enough." Rina sighed as she tried to separate the two, "You've been like this all the way back here."
That was when Seira noticed Karen coming down, who then greeted, "Hello Karen. Why are you back already?"
With the others turning their attention to her, Karen replied, "Well, I came back to pick something up. But then I got caught up in Nikora-san's chore list."
"At least you're making the effort." Hippo came in from out of nowhere, "These four are constantly getting distracted."
Offended, Rina challenged, "What did you say Hippo?" With that, all four girls gave Hippo the stink-eye.
Intimidated, Hippo hastily reconciled, "I mean, you four have been very busy. Nikora-san has kept you very busy."
As Karen was about to make the last few steps down, she made a misstep and began to fall. However, somebody managed to grab her from behind and kept her from falling. When Karen looked behind her, she found Subaru holding her.
"Are you alright Karen?" he asked in a concerning tone.
Feeling rather hot in the face, Karen replied, "Y-yes. Thank you Subaru."
"I was just about to head out anyway. It's a good thing I came when I did."
"Y-yes." Just then, Subaru noticed Luchia, Hanon, Rina, and Seira down in the breezeway. Hanon and Luchia had their mouths open in surprise, while Rina had a puzzled look expressed on her face.
"Karen, who is he?" Seira asked.
"This is Subaru," Karen introduced, "And he is staying here."
Luchia and Hanon just gasped, while Rina asked the burning question, "What are you doing here Hashimoto-san?"
"I'm here to research a point of interest that my group wishes to understand." Subaru answered, "But for now, I was thinking of treating Karen to some lunch. If she would let me?"
"Subaru." Karen gasped, then she told him, "Of course."
"Great. Then let's- Waah!" That was when Subaru made a misstep himself and tumbled down the stairs. This made Karen feel somewhat embarrassed, for she remembered how much of a klutz Subaru could be. Helping him up, Karen walked with him to take him up on his offer.

For the initial moments of taking her to lunch, Subaru was attempting to find someplace to eat at. The city was full of great sites, but he wanted to find someplace Karen would really like. Just when Subaru thought he found the perfect place, he noticed Karen looking in an entirely opposite direction. She was staring at a monjayaki restaurant.
"Do you want to eat there, Karen?" Subaru inquired.
"Well, I..." Karen stuttered, "Yes, I would but..."
With a chuckle, Subaru led her there and told her, "Don't worry about it. Let us go try it. I want to try some monjayaki myself."
But inside, eating monjayaki did not come as easy as Subaru hoped. With the first dish, he either ate the fried food too soon, or he burnt it by keeping it on for too long. He even burnt his tongue on one of the burnt monjayaki.
When the second dish came around, Karen instructed, "Subaru, watch me." So she took her small spatula, and pressed down on the bread, then she cut a section and ate it. After observing Karen's method, Subaru mimicked what she did, and found the food to be much more delicious.
"This is great! What a wonderful choice Karen." he beamed.
"Well, it's my favorite restaurant here." Karen blushed.
When both of them had had their fill of monjayaki, they had eaten five dishes.
"Five dishes comes out to 3500 yen." the waitress informed them.
"Right." Karen acknowledged, and she looked in her purse for the money. However, she found she had far fewer yen than she thought. Even if she split the cost with Subaru, she wouldn't have enough to make it even. This worried her.
"Thank you sir." she heard the waittress say. When she looked back, Subaru had finished paying the bill.
Before Karen could ask what had just occurred, Subaru reasoned to her, "I said I would treat you to lunch. So don't worry about it."
"Thank you, Subaru." Karen sighed in relief.

After they ate, Subaru took Karen over to the beachside area. When they arrived, he took out a small pair of binoculars from his coat pocket, and looked out to sea.
He scanned the whole horizon before putting them away and muttering, "Nothing yet."
"Looking for what your research group is after?" Karen asked.
"Yeah. But nothing yet." he replied, "Today is technically supposed to be a break day. To get acquainted with where I would stay. Still, they might come while I'm not looking."
"What is it you're looking for, Subaru?"
"You might think I'm crazy if I told you. And, I'm under strict code of secrecy. I can't reveal what I'm after." Karen assumed as much. She figured he knew what he was looking for, he just didn't want to tell her. But, she wasn't overly concerned, nor very curious, to find out what Subaru was after. As long as it didn't concern her, she was okay with not knowing.
"Mermaids." Subaru mumbled suddenly.
Surprised by his sudden speaking, Karen inquired, "What- did you say?"
"Did that come out loud?" Subaru sheepishly quizzed, "I'm sorry. I never meant to say anything."
"What did you say?" Karen repeated her question.
So Subaru answered, "I'm here to understand about mermaids. Particularly, the ones that have been reported to have appeared here. My group wants to confirm the reports that mermaids have been seen here. So I was sent with this objective." The news suddenly unnerved Karen. She blamed Hanon and Rina's recklessness. Their boyfriends had to have reported them to someone. What kind of human wouldn't?
"Don't take it too seriously." Subaru assured, "We're skeptical about this as well. Our reports all seem to have come from a single, anonymous source. We don't know if we can trust them."
"Do you really believe there are such things as mermaids?" Karen said haughtily, "Seriously Subaru, this is childish!"
"I knew you would react this way. That's why I was supposed to keep it a secret. If anyone found out, my research group would not be happy." Karen had heard enough. Frustrated, she began storming off for Pearl Piari. Subaru tried calling to her, trying to apologize. But Karen ignored his pleas.
"Karen." he muttered as he watched her walk away. Feeling dejected, he turned back to the sea's crystal blue form.
As he watched the waves pound into the shore, he wondered, Karen, why do you distrust me? I don't understand.
But while he was pondering, a woman's voice rang out coldly, "My, this is intriguing. A human seeking out mermaids? Where have we seen this before?" When Subaru turned, he spotted Lady Bat, Linhua, and Arara, though he didn't know who they were.
Spooked, Subaru demanded, "Who are you? What do you want?"
"What we want is what you seek: the mermaids." Linhua answered, "Or, to be more precise, the Mermaid Princesses."
"Mermaid Princesses?" he questioned.
"That's right." Arara beamed, "Now, show us where they are!"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Do you?!" Pulling out a remote, Arara summoned yet another mechanical monster. A mammoth-looking robot erupted from the water, and snatched Subaru in its trunk.
"Now tell us what you know about the Mermaid Princesses." Lady Bat taunted, "Or else..." And with a snap of her fingers, Subaru wailed out in pain as the mammoth mech squeezed him.

As Karen was walking back to Pearl Piari, she still struggled with what Subaru said. That he was searching for mermaids. She felt furious; at her friends and at Subaru. It was bad enough that Dr. Hishki was after them, but Subaru too? Karen felt like wanting to run away, go back to her kingdom, and find some other place to hide. But then, she felt a tear streak down her face. This perplexed her.
Why am I crying? she thought. While she was still trying to understand her rush of feelings, Noelle and Coco raced up to her looking worried.
"Karen, are you alright?" Noelle asked urgently.
"Onee-chan? Coco? What's the matter?" Karen inquired.
"We just heard something big appear near here." Coco began to explain, "When you hadn't returned from getting our food, Noelle and I went back to find you. Rina told us you had gone somewhere with someone called Subaru. so we went looking for you, and heard something mechanical stomping around." Karen didn't need to hear anymore than that. With instant urgency, Karen called for the other two to follow her, rushing back to where she left they approached the scene, the three girls spotted the mammoth mech, along with the three water demons and their prisoner.
"We can't go up to them like we are now." Noelle pointed out to them.
"Then we'll simply transform before we approach." Coco suggested.
"We have to rescue Subaru. Let's go Noelle, Coco." Karen spoke with conviction. And all three began to transform.

"Purple Pearl Voice!"
"Indigo Pearl Voice!"
"Yellow Pearl Voice!"

And after they changed into their second forms, they stepped forward to challenge the water demons.
"Release that man, right now!" Karen demanded. Startled, the three foes turned to who called them out.
"The Purple, Indigo, and Yellow Pearl Mermaid Princesses?" Lady Bat gasped, "This is our lucky day."
"It won't be for long." Noelle retorted.
"Time to send you wash-outs back to your master." Coco teased.
"Wash-outs?!" the three demons exclaimed in outrage.
But they never got the chance to retaliate, as the Mermaid Princesses called out, "Pichi Pichi Voice, Live Start!"

With this song, Karen took the lead by singing her personal song. A song of longing and affection, of wondering if who she loved, loved her back. That despite their star-crossed fates, she would hold onto these feelings she had. With Coco and Noelle's accompanying, the three water demons were unable to bear their power. Even the mech began to crumble and crack from their song. The mech loosened its grip on Subaru enough to where it dropped him, while he was still unconscious from being squeezed for so long.

After concluding the melody, the Mermaid Princesses called out, "Love Shower Pitch! Would you like an encore?"
"No matter what we do, you mermaid princesses beat us every time!" Lady Bat whined.
"We'll retreat for now. But we'll be back." Linhua informed. then all three water demons vanished. However, despite being heavily damaged, the mech grabbed Subaru by the ankles and attempted to drag him back to sea with it.
"Subaru!" Karen exclaimed. she immediately gave chase to the robot as it sunk beneath the waves.
As the mech continued to descend, Karen swam up to Subaru and worked to pry the trunk coil off of him. Despite being cracked and seriously damaged, its grip was still too strong for Karen to undo. Then, Noelle and Coco came up to her and added their strength to pry Subaru away. With some effort, they finally managed to free him, and Karen carried him back to shore.

Once they made it back to the surface, Karen set Subaru down on the sand. As she did, Subaru began calling out her name quite suddenly.
"Karen, no." he muttered. Seeing him the way he was, unconscious yet persistent, tore at Karen's heart. She was devoted to fulfill her duties as a Mermaid Princess, to protect the peace of the seas. But seeing Subaru made her feel conflicted. She no longer knew what to think of him. Should she feel mad at him? Pity him? Or something else? Karen couldn't decide.
"Karen, we should leave before he wakes up." Noelle suggested. Figuring it would be best to leave before he saw her, Karen returned to the sea with her friends. But as she did, Subaru got up and managed to catch a glimpse of a mermaid with long, purple hair and a purple tail, diving under the waves.
"Could that have been..?" he wondered. But as a scientist, he was dubious.

That night, the mermaid princesses were hanging out in the dining area on the first floor. Luchia and Hanon were looking through some magazines of popular dating spots; Seira was talking with Meru about her time with Hugo (much to Meru's dislike of the guy), Noelle and Coco were eating the food they couldn't eat earlier that day, and Rina was studying her notes. Karen simply sat staring at her food, lost in thought about her feelings for Subaru. Was it right for her to feel this way?
Sensing her dilemma, Rina went over to her table and inquired, "How was your time with Hamasaki-san?"
Blushing, Karen stuttered, "Well... He-I... I mean..."
"Relax Karen. I know how you are feeling." Karen became puzzled. How did Rina know how she was feeling? She had it perfectly well with Masahiro. She never struggled with the indecision she was facing.
"I always thought that love was pointless if there was so much that came with it." Rina elaborated, "So I thought it was best never to fall in love. Until I realized its purpose: being in love means learning to cope with the bad as well as the good." Suddenly, Karen began to see that Rina did know how she felt. She had been in the same scenario as her before.
"Take a look at Luchia and Hanon's love lives." Rina continued, "They had a hard time getting along with their boyfriends. And they were always excited about being in love. What I'm trying to say, Karen, is don't be afraid."
"Rina." Karen mumbled in response.
Standing up, Rina finished, "Love is another power source for us as Mermaid Princesses. It helps to make many miracles." Then she went up to her room. Karen took in all she was told and thought it over for a little bit. A human and mermaid couple may have been forbidden among mermaids. But if her friends were committed to it, maybe she could try to follow in their stead.

Subaru was working on his 'secret' project at the time. Before doing anything else, he pulled out his tape recorder and whispered,
Update. our target is in the area, as we suspected. The worst news is, he has created mechs and enlisted aid to seek out his targets. I will continue to observe until enough data has been collected.
Side note: I believe I may have been rescued by one of the subject's targets. While unconscious, I heard a strange and wonderful melody being sung by someone. Plus I managed to catch a glimpse of a mermaid. This mermaid had a purple tail, and long, purple hair. Almost like Karen. I wonder if she knows anything about this mermaid.
Unexpectedly, a knock sounded on Subaru's door, startling him slightly. Ending his recording, Subaru opened the door to find Karen standing behind it.
"Karen?! Is something the matter?"
"Subaru, I'm sorry." she told him, "I misjudged your intentions, and assumed something completely wrong. Please forgive me."
Taking Karen's hand, Subaru responded, "Forgiven, and forgotten. There is nothing to worry about anymore." Now Karen felt very hot in the head, but also elated. Maybe her feelings for Subaru were stronger than she realized.
Feeling bashful, she said, "Thank you Subaru."
And in her mind, she thought, Thank you Rina. You may be right. So maybe, I will give this a chance.

Yep! Subaru is back! This should be fun for Karen. Right?

Stay tuned for more. Till then,

Encore wa ika ga?