Chapter Thirty Seven: You want us to do what?
"I'm hungry!" Yaten whined suddenly. They had been walking for hours, trying to figure out how to assimilate for the time being, to be able to truly focus on the search for their princess
"Yaten, on this planet you need to have money to purchase food. We have no money. To get money we must get jobs. First we must figure out how to get a job, and work on learning the language." Taiki explained calmly, although she was becoming a bit worried as well. Yaten growled in annoyance, folding her arms. Taiki had a point.
Seiya remained quiet for a long while, deep in thought. Suddenly she stopped walking, causing Yaten to crash into her.
"OI! Seiya! Don't stop so suddenly!" Yaten scolded, although Seiya ignored her complaints.
"Why don't you two wait here? I'll be back in a couple minutes." Seiya said suddenly, gesturing to the nearby bench. The bench looked incredibly tempting to Yaten, and so she sat down immediately.
"Seiya, we shouldn't split up!" Taiki protested.
"I'll be fast, promise." Seiya said with a wink, and in was quickly out of sight. Taiki sighed and sat down.
"Where do you think she's going?" Yaten asked quietly.
"I..I don't know. It's hard to try to figure out what's going on in that head of hers."
"She was awfully quiet..." Yaten surmised. Taiki nodded solemnly.
The two sat in companionable silence, and Yaten was beginning to feel drowsy, supporting her head with her hand when something was shoved in her face.
"Here." Seiya said quietly. Yaten blinked and scrunched her nose slightly at the smell.
"What the hell is that?" She asked with disgust, stressing everyword. Seiya rolled her eyes.
"Food. Shut up and eat." Seiya ordered, sitting between Yaten and Taiki, handing the tall light a similar object. Yaten grimaced, wondering just what kind of concoction was in this..meat...with..a roll...and ominously colored sauce on it. Her stomache growling shut up any protest she might have.
"Seiya...how did you get this?" Taiki asked quietly.
"Does it matter?" Seiya said with a sigh. She knew stealing was wrong...but. This was their survival. It didn't matter what the cost was, they had to keep going, until they found their princess, until they found their home. Taiki and Yaten finished the food relatively quickly, and stood.
"Arrigatou..." Yaten whispered softly, offering Seiya a rare smile.
"Ready to go?" Seiya said. Taiki nodded and they continued on their way.
"I've been observing, and this society is not all that different from our own, better jobs are reserved for those with intelligence and education, although if you have talent you can be quite popular." Taiki stated.
Seiya nodded. "I have a feeling..it will take us a while to find Kakyuu on this crowded planet. It's best we plan to stay longer."
"Agreed." Taiki said.
"I thought..it'd be good..if we found something where we'd be seen everywhere...they call them 'celebrities' people who act, or sing...their pictures are everywhere. Surely..our princess can find us if we do such a thing."
"It's a good idea Seiya, but how? We really don't have any talent, you know."
"I..I know.."
"We shouldn't plaster our faces everywhere! We'll draw too much attention to ourselves and Galaxia will find us! We can't find hime if we're being tailed by her minions!" Yaten protested.
Taiki sighed. "She has a point..."
Seiya growled in frustration. Now what were they going to do?
"We should try and observe more about this planet. Come on, that place looks promising." Taiki suggested, pointing to a local day club. Fighter nodded, and Yaten simply sighed. No use arguing with Taiki, ever.
Once inside they found a person up on stage, singing quietly. The atmosphere was quiet, and candles illuminated the tables. Yaten grinned, liking the place already. The starlights hung about in the back, observing in silence. The song finished, the singer took a bow, and surprisingly sat down at a table.
A man came up onto the stage. "Thank you very kindly, Aino-san. Is there anyone else who'd like to come up and sing for us! It's karaoke night! Come on, ladies and gents, don't be shy!"
Seiya made her move forward, but was stopped when Taiki grabbed her wrist.
"Are you insane?" Taiki hissed, "You have such a strong accent, they'll KNOW you're not from around here. Seiya shrugged. "If I have any talent, we may have a shot of this. Now let go." Seiya hissed.
Taiki grudgingly obeyed.
Seiya strode confidently towards the stage, flicking her hair behind her. She had no idea what she was going to sing, in all honesty. She knew plenty of songs in her native tongue, but none here, although this simple language, she had picked up much of it already. She closed her eyes, pulling the microphone off the stand, bringing it up to her mouth.
"Chasin' after you, over infinity, that fragrance no one can hide..."
Seiya couldn't believe she was making up the lyrics as she was going and doing so well. Although her sad, slow voice didn't seem to fit the song quite right. She imagined it being a bit more lively...she smiled inwardly as the gears began to turn in her head.
The song was short, as she didn't wish to push her luck and draw it out. She bowed slightly, returning to the darkened corner of the room where her comrades were waiting.
"Seiya...that was good." Yaten whispered excitedly, earning a smile from her leader.
"You know, you may have something here." Taiki said quietly.
"Singing like this...I think..she may find us easily if we become popular." Seiya stated, a hint of hopefulness in her voice.
"It is a distinct possibility." Taiki affirmed.
"If we sang to find her though, wouldn't it seem strange? This earthlings are extremely gender bound. I haven't seen a single same gender couple all day!" Yaten exclaimed.
Taiki looked worried for a moment.
"You have a point- singing for our princess, saying that we miss her, it would seem very odd- we'd be much less likely to become popular." Taiki reasoned. Seiya sighed heavily.
"Now what?" Seiya asked.
"I'm out of ideas." Taiki said with a sigh, resting her hand on her forehead. Seiya stood in silence for a long while. Her comrades knew better than to speak, for they knew she was thinking deeply.
"Why..don't we present ourselves as men?" Seiya asked suddenly.
"Eh?" Taiki asked, blinking. Had her leader lost her mind?
"We'd certainly become famous as the three best looking guys around. Our songs would get played at all sorts of girly hangouts- surely our princess would hear us and recognize us eventually. Plus it'd only be natural that we'd be singing about the beautiful girl from out dreams..." Seiya explained slowly.
"A worthy idea, Seiya, but how?"
Seiya grinned, grabbing her comrades by the wrists, leading them towards the back of the club.
"Where are we going exactly?" Yaten asked irritatedly. If this was another one of Seiya's pranks...
"A place where no one can see us, midget." Seiya said, stating what she thought was obvious.
"Oh..right." Even Yaten was baffled by her own stupidity. Seiya quickly ushered them into an empty dressing room, closing the door and locking it.
"Okay...now aside from wearing the proper clothing from this planet and wrapping our chests, how can we appear more...masculine?" Taiki wondered allowed, earning a smirk from Seiya.
"Oh Taiki, you know so little of our powers.."
Taiki raised an eyebrow slowly, watching her leader. Just what was Fighter talking about.
Seiya held her changestar up, closing her eyes tightly.
"Stars above...shine upon me the illusion of a male!" She said quietly, but with great force and effort. Seiya glowed a dim red for a moment...
Taiki and Yaten couldn't believe their eyes. There, infront of them, their leader had grown a few inches taller, her shoulders broadened, her hips narrowed, her chest flattened.
She was a male, top to bottom.
"Told you." Seiya said, smirking cockily.
"Gods! Even your voice changed, a little..." Yaten said, her green eyes wide in surprise. Seiya nodded slightly, squirming a bit.
"Feels strange."
"I can imagine.." Taiki said thoughtfully.
"Well, come on you two! Join me! We gotta go back out there and sing as a group, get our name our, our image out, anything."
"You want me to do what!" Yaten practically screeched. "Why can't just you do it?"
Seiya sighed. Did Yaten really have to be this difficult.
"Yaten, with your telepathic abilities, wouldn't it be much simpler to reach our princess?" Taiki interjected.
THANK you Taiki!
Seiya thought with relief. He was ready to just pound the smaller light into submission. Yaten growled, holding her changestar up as well.
"Whatever. We better find her fast and get the hell out of this place."
Taiki did the same. In a few seconds, the three of tehm were standing in silence and awe, examining each other's new...bodies.
Yaten probed Taiki's chest lightly. "They're completely gone! I can't believe it."
Taiki's eyebrow twitched sightly, and Seiya found himself giggling uncontrollably.
"Oi! Seiya! You're giggling like a girl you know!" Taiki scolded. Seiya blushed.
"Gomen gomen. This will take getting used to."
"You got that right." Yaten huffed sitting down, only to leap up a second later. "Itai!"
"What is it?" Taiki asked concerned.
Yaten winced, whining in pain. "I- I don't know! I sat down and just felt this..incredible...pain!"
Seiya's eyes widened in understanding, and a loud guffaw soon followed.
"Nani?" Yaten demanded, eyes flashing in annoyance.
It was several long minutes before Seiya stopped laughing and was able to explain herself...er, himself. The change of pronoun was DEFINITELY going to take a while.
"You see...males...have a rather sensitive place...that can get pinched when one sits down carelessly,..causing..pain..." then Seiya was off again, cackling like a hyena. Yaten tilted her head in innocent confusion, and after a few seconds Taiki understood, and found himself quite amused by the situation as well, although he did not laugh.
"Seiya is right. Be careful when you sit Yaten."
"Hmph." Yaten scoffed, blowing his bangs up out of his face in irritation. He still didn't get it.
"We should go back out there and sing together..." Seiya said quietly once they had all calmed down a bit.
"I agree. But what?"
"I was thinking, we could add a bit onto the song I came up with."
"You came up with that on the spot?" Yaten asked in surprise.
"H-Hai, it's not much..but I was thinking, it'd sound better if it was a bit more upbeat, you know?"
Taiki nodded slowly. "I agree."
After spending the better part of an hour practicing their short little song, making minor changes, they were ready to perform.
"Wait! What should our name be?" Seiya asked suddenly as they were almost out the door. They paused for a long minute.
"The Starlights would be too obvious, wouldn't it?" Taik said quietly. Yaten rolled his eyes.
"Not to mention too feminine."
"What about..the Three Lights? It's not so obvious or feminine..but it may help draw the attention of our princess." Seiya suggested. Taiki and Yaten nodded in agreement, finding no argument or better idea.
"Three Lights it is." Taiki said, offering a rare smile as they walked out the door.
Princess...I hope you are well. I.. I don't know how long we can continue on like this, in this strange place on this strange world. I don't know how much longer my heart can take being this close to her...him..I want to break, I want to give up..but I'll continue to fight, until we find you, until you are safe...