Key:

Narration

'Speaking'

'Foreign Language (Not English)'

Thinking


Chapter 10: 恐怖の攻撃を上演!氷の真珠の目覚め!(Stage fright attacks! The ice pearl's awakening!)

The shrill ringing of Shu Qing's alarm clock made the sleepy girl jump straight out of bed, her eyes wide and alert as she checked the time of her digital clock. The dark blue-haired girl gave a sigh of relief as she flopped back onto her bed. 'Nine o'clock on a Sunday. No school.' Suddenly, she frowned; if it was a Sunday, then why did she set her alarm clock again?

Looking across the room, the girl saw her calendar, the date encircled several with bright pink Sharpie marker, and the Chinese words scribbled onto in her messy handwriting read: Singing competition at Taiping Sentral. 12:00.

Her eyes brightened at that and she quickly jumped out of bed again and raced to the calendar. Picking up a red Sharpie she had tied to the calendar's side, she crossed out the date of the day before and circled the date again, putting a small exclamation mark inside as she silently squealed in delight. 'Today's the day!' she cheered to herself. 'I'm going to win the trophy, even if it's the last thing I do!' She already had a large advantage on her side; her voice, thanks to having mermaid heritage, was naturally lovely to listen to, so if anyone could beat her, they probably weren't human.

Opening the door to her room, the eleven-year-old sped towards the bathroom, running past her very confused younger sister, seven, who blinked in surprise as she made her mad dash to the bathroom. Just over an hour later, Shu Qing was in her room, bouncing up and down on her heels as she tied a final hair ribbon in her hair, a light, sparkly blue to complement her darker hair colour. She was determined to look her best, even if it was just an inter-school event that she was participating in — first impressions, after all, were incredibly hard to change.

Ducking her head out of her room, she called out to her mother, who was probably downstairs making breakfast. 'Mummy!' she called, careful not to yell in case she wore out her voice before noon. 'I'm ready to go to 'Vena's!' She bounced on her heels in excitement as she smiled brightly at herself in the mirror. Her plan was to sing 'Legend of Mermaid' to the judges, and if it went well, then everything else would go over just fine.

Receiving an 'Alright, dear!' in response, from her mother, the dark blue-haired girl ran out her room and headed towards the stairs to eat her breakfast before her loving mother drove her to Lavena and Shusmeetha's house, where their parents would take the whole group to Taiping Sentral.

Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch Pearls

'Is not!'

'Is too!'

'Is not!'

'Is too!'

Lavena tuned out the sound of Yi Phing and Lavhanya arguing over whether blue was the best colour. The former favoured light blue over all the colours in the entire spectrum, while the Indian girl preferred green. Understandable, considering that each had the pearl of their favoured colours.

Shusmeetha was still in the bathroom, and Lavena could hear her younger sister singing 'Sekai de Ichiban Hayaku Asa ga Kuru Basho'; at least, that was what her orange-loving sister called her song. Lavena wasn't so sure that it was proper Japanese, but hey, it was her sister's song, whatever floated her boat, right?

Speaking of songs though, it was the day of Shu Qing's singing competition. The younger girl had already called a few minutes ago to inform them that she was ready, and that she would be arriving in a couple more minutes so that all six of them could go to Taiping Sentral together, preferably early, so that she could register with her teacher.

The door to her predominantly lavender and pastel pink room opened, Shusmeetha sticking her head in before the youngest of the group skipped in with a towel wrapped around her hair. 'I'm done!' she chirped enthusiastically, taking a seat on Lavena's bed with Shu Ting, who was texting on her phone to Shu Qing. Now that all of the girls, except for Shu Qing, were together, Lavena could see that their outfits were colour-coded, like always, though they each had another colour besides their dominant one on them.

Yi Phing and Lavhnaya, in light blue and green respectively, each wore an accessory with the other's colour on it, mainly due to their closeness and tendency to partner up whenever the girls were split up into pairs. She and her sister were in purple and orange, of course, but Shusmeetha had a purple bow in front of her orange dress and she herself wore orange shell earrings. Though Shu Ting was without her partner, she was in yellow, and she wore a blue watch. Lavena was certain that Shu Qing would be wearing dark blue, with yellow as an accent.

Suddenly, the purple-haired girl felt uneasy, like she did whenever she was about to have another of her visions. They had been appearing more frequently as of late, and anytime she fell asleep, she would have detailed dreams of something that had happened in the past. Her latest dream was of the two Black Beauty Sisters' first defeat, which she recognized from a story that Lucia had once told her.

Her eyes glazed over, but instead of having the past playing out in front of her, she instead saw a brief segment of the playground near her home. Zhi Hui was there, and the girl did not look happy. 'You tricked me!' she yelled. And then… nothing. It was over as quickly as it came.

Lavena shook her head. Weird vision, she frowned. But it could just be nothing. The doorbell ringing got the girls' attention, and after a few seconds, the door to Lavena's room opened again, and Shu Qing walked in, dressed in a dark blue dress, with a yellow belt.

The girl smiled brightly. 'I'm ready!' she cheered enthusiastically. She paused, looking around. 'Hey,' she started, frowning. 'Where's Lucia-nee?'

'Out,' Yi Phing cut in before the oldest of the six could respond. Playfully sticking out her tongue at the older girl, the blue-haired half-mermaid leapt to her feet, followed closely by Lavhanya, who scrambled onto her feet while tugging on the short sleeves of her blouse, presumably to pull them down from where she had bunched them up before.

'So, ready to go, girls?' Lavena asked, already at the door, her fingers on the light switch, which she regrettably still needed to reach a little over her head to reach. The girls filed out quicker than she could see, and the purple-haired girl blinked when she saw that all of them were already rushing down the stairs while talking excitedly about how Shu Qing was sure to win. Lavena grinned and switched off the lights and the fan, quickly hastening down the stairs to catch up with her sister and friends.

'Hey!' she called as she reached the bottom of the staircase. 'Wait for me, girls!'

Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch Pearls

'Come on!'

Shu Qing barely registered Shu Ting's voice as she glanced around the centre of the shopping mall, where the stage was located on the first floor. There seemed to be an awful lot of people there. She swallowed nervously, following Shu Ting's lead to find their school's singing teacher.

In a couple of minutes, they found the short, and rather plump woman by the registration table, looking around impatiently as if searching for someone. Then she saw Shu Qing, and she smiled encouragingly at her. 'Shu Qing, there you are!'

Shu Qing nodded, really noticing the crowd right then. The first floor was already packed; the second and third floors had people leaning against the railing to watch. Suddenly, the girl felt like hiding. She was the only one of the girls not to get their pearl yet, and she was really feeling nervous about it.

'You can do it, Qing!' Shu Ting called from where her friends were in the crowd, and Shu Qing hastened over to sign her name on the registration form after her teacher filled in the information needed.

I can do this, Shu Qing told herself. I can do this, I can do this, I can do this… She looked around again. The crowd was even bigger. She paled. I can't do this.

Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch Pearls

Shusmeetha was bored. Yes, she was bored in a singing competition, where people were usually amazed by singing talents. Why? Well, maybe it was because she knew that Shu Qing was bound to win, even though she didn't have her pearl yet. The young girl — the youngest of her group — waited impatiently in her seat for her friend's name to be called by the MC.

'Number 44, Alana, with Star Mero Mero Heart.'

Shusmeetha shot straight up in her seat. Alana? With a song that had a name like 'Star Mero Mero Heart'? The dark haired girl had a bad feeling about that, and she half-expected the competitor to be dressed like one of the Winged Ones.

Alana defied all those expectations, though she was certainly dressed in a weird manner, with a dull green bird hoodie that had wings for sleeves and a beak on the hood. She was also wearing shorts, and dark green sneakers. She was holding the microphone provided in her hand, and was twirling it like it was a baton. Luckily for her, it was wireless and turned off at the moment, or else the cords would have gotten all tangled up, and the sound would have been awful.

Shusmeetha shrank in her seat, she had a very bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. The girl's necklace faintly glowed in accordance to her distress, but no one noticed it, luckily for her. From beside her, she could hear Lavhanya muttering about how the girl was 'stealing her colour', pouting from her seat as she crossed her arms over her chest.

At her other side, her trusty older sister seemed to notice her distress, and her hand gently clapped down onto the younger girl's shoulder. Lavena leaner closer to her, and whispered, 'I don't like this. There's something… off, about that girl.'

Shusmeetha nodded, her eyes darting to look at the entrance to backstage, where she could see Shu Qing's head poking out and frowning deeply at the competitor. The music started, and Shu Qing quickly disappeared. However, at the same time, all five of the girls in the audience flinched and put their hands over their ears.

Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch Pearls

Shu Qing was nervously pacing before it was her turn to compete. She had never been in front of such a large crowd before, and it certainly didn't help her nerves that her friends were there too, because she didn't want them to see her mess up.

She cleared her throat and tried her song again.

The white clouds in the blue sky slowly float away

Vanishing, as they near the rainbow's end

Then, she paused. Shu Qing panicked. Of all times, she had chosen then to forget the lyrics! She continued pacing nervously.

My loving kiss excites your pumping heart!

Ah~…as I thought…You Love Only Me~

If I can waive the Baton of Stars

I would want to make you fall in a trance!

Shu Qing tensed at the song, freezing in place and chancing a glance outside. Her ears hurt, and she flinched at the noise. Wasn't that Alala? But when she looked out, she didn't see the winged girl, only a girl in a green bird hoodie. Odd, Shu Qing frowned. I could've sworn I heard her voice…

With the shape hidden under the shadow of the green leaves

I made and created a lot of me's

Let us all show our cute side right now!

Your beautiful rose coloured eyes are now shaking right?

Look at me once again…because I will only smile to you!

You should only know things about me

You should only listen to what I say

Even my impossible demands~!

'Gah!' Shu Qing shrieked in the softest voice possible. That was Alala's voice all right, but where was she? The dark blue-haired girl winced and pulled away from the entrance to the stage. This was one time that she really wanted Zhi Hui to be there, despite having a slight dislike for the older girl due to her blunt manner and distaste for pink. Because, who could hate pink? It was the best colour yet!

My cute voice excites your pumping heart!

Ah~…as I thought, you are attracted to me~

You only listen to my selfishness,

But you should be happy~!

Shu Qing heard a round of loud applause, and the MC announcing her name and number, and she blinked, realizing that it was her turn. Swallowing nervously, she left the backstage and headed towards the stage.

The girl stood on the stage only a minute later, and already Shu Qing felt nervous. Her palms were sweaty and her eyes darted from one person in the crowd to another. She swallowed, pushing back her nerves as she started to sing.

The white clouds in the blue sky slowly float away

Shu Qing paused as she finished the first line, and panic overtook her. She had forgotten the next line to the song! She paled dramatically. Searching for the lyrics, her eyes darted over the crowd to find her friends. Come on… come on!

No one spoke in the crowd, then suddenly, a name started echoing in the place. 'Alana! We want Alana back!' the crowd chorused as one. 'Alana! Alana!'

Shu Qing's eyes finally locked on her friends, who were glaring at Alana, the girl having sashayed her way back onto stage. Alana smirked arrogantly at her and shoved her back. Shu Qing yelped, stumbling over her feet as she moved back a couple of steps.

Alana looked at her disdainfully and snickered, snatching the microphone from her hands. She suddenly launched herself into the air, and with a magnificent burst of green light, transformed into the winged demon, Alala. Alala spun her baton-like microphone in her hand, and called out. 'Mermaids, come out now! I want the Pink Pearl!'

None of the mermaids responded, all remaining silent. Shu Qing stared up at Alala, who was twirling her baton lazily. 'Oh come on,' she muttered to herself. 'Why can't I just have a normal competition for once?'

'Are you coming out or not, mermaids?' Alala lazily demanded, landing on the stage again. 'No?' she inquired to the empty air. 'Oh well, it doesn't matter. This crowd will hunt you out sure enough.' Twirling the baton again, she finally pointed the end at the crowd as she started to sing again.

My loving gaze excites your pumping heart!

Ah~…I knew it…you are nailed down by my gaze~

With the melody that you hummed

I want to make you fall in love with me!

Shu Qing screamed, her hands clapping over her ears, as did the five girls in the crowd. 'Stop!' she yelled at Alala, who was disinterestedly scanning the crowd. The dragonfly demon didn't seem to hear her though, and continued to sing her song while twirling her baton, sending golden stars flying through the air.

The dark blue-haired girl shakily got to her feet with her hands over her ears as she forced her way up to Alala. With all the force she could muster, Shu Qing shoved Alala off the stage, instantly cutting the song short. The demon yelped as she smashed face-first into a crowd.

'Why you — ' Alala's words were cut off by the crowd surrounding her and chanting in a hypnotized tone, 'We love Alana! Alana! Alana!'

Shu Qing looked up to see her friends smiling brightly at her as they got to their feet. She looked at Lavena in particular, who was pointing at something by her feet. The mermaid looked down, seeing the microphone roll by her feet, and picked it up. Looking back at her friends, she mouthed to them, 'what am I supposed to do?'

Shusmeetha made the motion for 'Pichi Pichi Pitch' with her hand, that was, throwing her hand out in an outstretched motion, while Lavhanya was mimicking dancing to a beat. Yi Phing and Lavena, on the other hand were making frantic points to the microphone.

Shu Qing looked at microphone warily, but she brought it up anyway, and she started singing the first words that came to mind — the Japanese version of Legend of Mermaid.

Nanairo no kaze ni fukarete

Tooi misaki wo mezashiteta

She could see the crowd slowly going back to the way they were before Alala had started singing. Murmurs of 'pop idol?' had started spreading in the crowd, but Shu Qing found that she could now remember all the lyrics to her song, surprisingly so, as she had forgotten all of them barely a couple of minute ago.

Yoake mae kikoeta MERODII

Sore wa totemo natsukshii uta

By the time she finished this verse, Alala had regained her bearings, and was now hovering in the air with her arms crossed over her chest. 'Found you, mermaid!' she yelled, pointing her baton at Shu Qing, who backed up a little. Suddenly, a bright burst of light shot out from Shu Qing, and Alala as well as everyone else had to shield their eyes to avoid getting blinded.

Well done, child. A voice spoke to Shu Qing, and she had to look around to see if there was anyone there. Conquering a fear is never easy, and you might not have conquered it for good, but I feel you have earned this. Take it, your pearl. The pearl of frost and ice.

Shu Qing's eyes lit up, and she looked down, seeing a blue glow in the shape of the shell necklace the others all wore appear around her neck. The blinding light that it emitted died down just a little, and it was just enough for her to see the dark blue necklace that rested on her collarbone. A bright grin spread over her face, and she raised her free hand to clasp the locket.

Knowing what to do, she raised her head and brought the hand that held the microphone into the air, yelling out the three words that belonged to her transformation phrase. 'Frost Pearl Voice!'

The light that covered her turned a bright, icy blue, and her hair flowed down to her feet, turning a dark azure. Her hair style was also replicated with the 'sugar cane' styled ponytail, and blue lights appeared on her head, forming a headband. Blue light shifted over her body, feeling oddly like ice, and then shattering to reveal her new dress.

She held out each hand, and the light covered her up to her arms. She brought them in, passed them over each other in front of her chest once, and again, upon which it shattered, leaving her gloves in its place. She flung her right arm out, and the light covered it before shattering into a cut-off sleeve. Light appeared on her feet, and clapping her heels together, her boots formed.

Her microphone fell into her outstretched hand, and twirling the microphone in her left hand, she assumed Sailor Moon's iconic position, winking. 'I am the pretty Idol Soldier of Cool Justice, and on behalf of the seven seas, I'll show you what's what!'

Looking down at herself, she noted that her hair was a much lighter shade than it originally was, now a lovely dark blue-indigo mix. There was a blue pearl headband in her hair. Her outfit mirrored Shu Ting's, she noticed, having the cut off sleeve on the right while the brunette had hers on the left, and her short sleeve was also on the left, whereas the other had hers on the right, as were the gloves.

Her dress was deep blue, and the skirt was a couple of shades lighter. Her gloves were ice blue, and her boots were the same colours as the rest of her outfit. Somehow, she knew that her eyes were also a light blue as well.

Seeing Alala about to start singing again, Shu Qing brought her microphone up. 'Pichi Pichi Pitch, Live Start!'

I once had a dream

While waiting for a miracle to come find me

Is it whimsy to kiss for just a moment?

Hey, saying "sorry" just isn't fair!

Alala started screaming, and the crowd did the exact opposite, cheering louder and louder. Shu Qing felt a swell of pride in her heart when she saw her friends leading the crowd to cheer for her.

I'm still not going to just

Talk about all the things that I don't like

Side by side, let us look at the sky again

The one chance we'll ever have is now!

She threw her hand out to the crowd, and the cheering intensified for her. Alala, on the other hand, was screaming in pain as her wings were buzzing like a fly trying to escape from honey. Where Shu Qing got the sometimes weird idioms she used, she never knew.

When I see our fingers intertwined together

Don't you dare decide to say goodbye alone by yourself

Here we go!

With a brand new 'us', we'll be able to do better than before

The strength we have of believing in today

Let us use it to change destiny

She Qing switched from one foot to another, keeping with the rhythm of her upbeat song. She was really enjoying the feeling of transforming. Now that she had her pearl, she mentally made a note to transform more often. It felt really good to sing without having stage fright, especially in front of a large crowd like this.

Here we go!

Not being able to say 'I love you!'

I held on to you tightly inside of my heart

All of the endless sunsets I've watched from so far off I can't see

I want to give it all to you

I love you

'How about an encore?' she teased as Alala screamed in frustration. The crowd positively went wild, and cheers came from her five friends. Her smile just widened as she left the stage, releasing her transformation in a shower of blue sparkles. Bouncing on her heels, Shu Qing went off-stage.

She just knew she was going to win.

Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch Pearls

Lavena hummed her song under her breath in a jaunty tone as the six girls walked along Lake Garden, giggling and laughing as they did so. No one had been surprised when Shu Qing had been announced as the winner, especially not the other five girls, who had already anticipated it. The best thing about it, though, was that all of the girls now had their pearls, and now, they could sing as a team.

She skipped slightly as she walked, Shu Ting and Shu Qing right behind her, and still giggling and talking about Shu Qing's trophy. As she looked in front though, she saw Lucia and Gaito walking along the same path, silent, until Gaito began to talk. She couldn't hear anything, but it seemed quite serious, for Lucia's expression was simply neutral, and the brunette usually had a smile on her face all the time.

'Lucia-nee!' shouted all the girls together before she could stop them.

Lavena simply frowned at them, but she walked up to the two as the girls did, though not running, which in her sandals, would be rather unwise. 'Well,' Lavena spoke to herself. 'This is a coincidence.' Watching as Shu Qing excitedly and proudly showed her pearl to Lucia, Lavena saw Lucia smile in pride and ruffle Shu Qing's hair.

Out of the corner of her eye, though, the teen saw Gaito frown a bit, as if he was disappointed. 'So, Lucia,' he started, sounding somewhat disappointed. 'I guess this is it for today?'

Lavena had a sneaking suspicion of why he sounded reluctant, and she was positive that Zhi Hui would have seen it too. Hiding her grin, she looked over to Lucia, who was smiling and nodding as Shu Qing talked about her day.

'Huh?' Lucia murmured, almost absently wording her sentence. After a while, she seemed to register what he had said and flushed red. 'Oh yes! I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention.' She paused in her sentence and looked at the girls. 'I guess I'll be leaving with the girls then. I'll see you tomorrow?

Considering that the day after was a Monday, Lavena guessed that it was probably their best bet.

'Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow,' the man affirmed, and with a quick nod of acknowledgement towards the girls, he turned and left. Lavena saw him using his phone though, and not a minute later, Lucia's phone rang with the notifications alarm.

Lavena knew what it was, this time around, and she couldn't help but grin. Luckily for her, only Yi Phing caught her expression, and the other girl was unlikely to spill.

At approximately nine and a half at night, around three to four hours later, Lavena was wrapping up the last few pages of her worksheet. Editing one of her answers, written in mechanical pencil, which she would rewrite at school the next day, the purple-haired teen finally decided to call it a day.

It was one of those rare days when the girls all slept over at one house, this time being Lavena and Shusmeetha's. Lucia was in the living room, still going over some parts of her lesson the next day with the television switched off. The girls had already gone up to their temporary rooms, with Shu Ting, Shu Qing and Lavhanya sharing Shusmeetha's room while Yi Phing and Shusmeetha herself slept in Lavena's bedroom.

Lavena packed up all her stationery, and carefully marked down the pages of her workbook so she could get them tomorrow. The girl shoved her books into her bag, and moved to the staircase to get to her bedroom, already in her dark pink and purple floral themed pyjamas. As she ascended the stairs, a thought occurred to her, and she paused in her steps.

'Nee… Lucia-nee,' she called out, drawing the brunette mermaid's attention.

'Yes, Lavena?' Lucia asked, looking at her with a soft, gentle smile.

'Do you… have feelings for… him?' Lavena asked nervously, not mentioning a name on purpose.

Lucia fell silent for a while, and her face flushed a faint red. 'You mean Gaito?' Not looking at her to see her response, the teacher hummed softly under her breath for a while, long enough to make Lavena think that she wasn't getting any answers that night.

As Lavena moved to head to her room, Lucia finally responded. 'Yes.' Lavena was unable to keep her grin off her face for the rest of the night, even while she was asleep.

End Chapter


Wow... these chapters are getting shorter. Maybe I should just Demote Zhi Hui To Extra and give the girls their limelight.

No preview this time, mainly because the next chapter is a little filler and mainly to give a little insight on how the characters carry about their lives on important occasions and festivals. Most of the specials (there are six, by the way) will mostly be about things in Malaysia, but a couple of them, like the third and sixth, will mark important occasions in the plot, plus, I get to portray what I know, so yay!

The first special will be up in April, somewhere around the tenth, perhaps, so it coincides with the Qingming Festival, which is what will be in said chapter. I hope you guys look forward to it.