It's the scar! The scar will be what sets me apart from the original! Kyoko smiled to herself as she was fixing up breakfast. Or dessert, however you want to put it. She loved baking, and she was making fudge-mallow bars with hot chocolate. She was in a sweet tooth kind of mood after finding her very own Mio. The scar shows her hatred for her sister, as every time Misao looks at it, she'll remember the ugliness that lives in her heart. I soon have to test it out and tell the director what I think Mio should be like...

Her hands froze as she stopped stirring. The melted chocolate chips were in her hand, along with a wooden spoon in the other. But... she couldn't really say her thoughts without the director thinking that he was right all the time.

The last time I argued with a director was when I played Natsu. I didn't like the director's suggestions, as it never fitted her character. I was scolded so much... It was only when I showed him how my Natsu is like, that he fully understood what I meant. But... would it be the same? I can't always rely on my decisions.

Kyoko continued to stir, adding it to the cake pan that she prepared. Smoothing the fudge with her metal spatula, she added marshmallows on top. And to top it, she added both caramel and chocolate syrup to dress it up. Drizzling it in a zigzag pattern, she soon finished and was ready to put it in the oven.

Waiting for it to bake, Miroku came in the kitchen, and gave a laugh. "Most people would think their heiress in an apron is just odd and wrong, but I actually find it natural. What are you baking this time?"

"Fudge-mallow bars."

"Oh? That sounds sweet. Not like I would know, after all. I liked your Salmon Surprise Cookies, but I know you tried baking them in that human oven." He pointed at it as if it was the most ugliest thing he ever saw. "I guess sea water ovens give it more flavour as it bakes inside for freshwater salmon."

"Maybe. But I can't go to the sea and fill this oven up with water. It wouldn't cook."

"Oh well. But I'm willing to eat your baking, princess." He bowed down. "Even though merpeople don't like sweets. We prefer salty food, as that is what the water is when we are born."

"Can't you adjust?" Kyoko asked, placing on her oven mitts to take the bars out of the oven. She opened the oven door, and placed the cake pan on top of the stove for it to cool for a couple of minutes. Her cooling rack ready on the side, and her slow cooker ready with the hot chocolate. She didn't mind too much that it took hours for it to be prepared. She wasn't in any hurry.

"No," was his blunt reply. He looked up, and said, "Here's the others now."

Reino was the first to come in, but his whole body indicated that he was angry. Shizuru, Dasuku, and Kiyora followed suit. They both were back from the music store, to buy their instruments, but it seemed they had some troubles along the way.

"What happened?" Kyoko asked, cutting into the bars. She opened the slow cooker, and poured the hot chocolate into six cups. She let herself have whipped cream and chocolate shavings on hers, but the others declined. They sipped the hot chocolate, and they ended up pouring salt into their cups. Not table salt, but sea salt.

Reino muttered, "A talent scout saw us at the music store, and asked us to play. Shizuru played bass, Kiyora was on keyboards, Dasuku on the guitar, and me just singing." Reino shrugged. "Those instruments looked similar to the ones when we were at sea, but they played terribly. The quality doesn't match at all!"

"Still, to humans, that must be what their music sounds like." Kiyora rolled his eyes. He was not pleased on the sound quality on the keyboard. But since that was their best, he decided to buy it anyway.

"Anyway, that talent scout actually wants us to copy Fuwa Sho. I believe he's the man you thought was the one you saved?" questioned Dasuku. "I can't believe it... his songs are so..." His shoulders shook, and then he ran around the room screaming, "WILD AND COOL! I can't believe he would have more style than us!"

I have to admit, but most of his ballads have a flawless poison-like melody, thought Shizuru.

But Dasuku somehow caught his words and yelled out, "Don't even think about it silently!" He stopped and pointed angrily at Shizuru.

"Oh? You can say it out loud for us to hear, and I can't think of it silently to myself?"

"UGH!"

Kiyora joined in, saying that if they were to copy Sho, he might make his music even better. "He seems like a musical genius!"

Kyoko, not pleased to hear compliments to her ex-love, ignored them and added her opinion. "You can say all you want, but don't you think there's no emotion?" Her hands were crossed, as everyone laid their eyes on her. She took a bite into her bar, and a sip of hot chocolate, and said, "No matter how much the music can back it up, I can tell his voice doesn't have any emotion. No matter how much he can fake it, people are bound to know. If not now, sooner or later."

Kiyora blinked, and gasped. "Oooh! I get it! You're a singer, just like him!" Thankfully, he didn't say any indications that she couldn't sing anymore. That would just bring her down. "So he's not at your level?"

This made Kyoko smile. She chuckled, as she dipped her spoon to scoop the whipped cream out. "He's not even going to get to my level even if he's the number one singer in the world. That's how big a difference we are."

Reino watched as Kyoko fiercely ran her bow on the string. Her violin rang, echoing in her room and singing its melody to her. Whenever she was angry, she would sing her frustrations out. It was never a specific song, but one she thought of at the top of her head. But since all she could sing now was strangled notes, she had to play them out.

"Him? A genius? Oh ho ho! I thought he was, but I was blinded by love, so I couldn't even see that he was inferior compared to my talents!" she cried out, angrily playing sixteen notes, and rowing her bow back and forth. Her left hand was going uncontrollable, as her fingers shook to a fast vibrato, and fingering each note. "He's nothing but a big fat jerk!"

"This is the first time I heard you not be modest. He must have been really full of himself to make you think that you are better than him." He looked at her flared up aura, filled with hatred.

Reino raised a hand to stop her, before she would soon wake up with tired out arms. He never saw his friend this angry. Other than Shirayuki in her body, this aura was not the same his mistress had before.

He changed her.

"Well, I must say. To humans, he's like an angel. But when merpeople hear it... do you remember the comments that my friends gave? It was only to the music. Kiyora said he was a musical genius, but that was only to his music. The instruments. They never once said anything about his voice." Reino glanced as she paused from putting her violin in her case, and said out loud, "I bet if we both sang a duet, it would be loved by everyone in this world forever."

Kyoko stilled at this, and glanced up at her childhood friend. She gave a small smile, and let out a tear. "Rei kun..."

He walked over her side, and gave her a tight hug. She wasn't expecting this, but she hugged back. She rubbed her cheek on his shirt, and let out a small cry.

"Don't worry. I don't think you were stupid. If you're blinded by love, you don't see a person's flaws." He flicked her bangs with his fingers playfully, and laughed. "You were at a bad time. Being exiled, and wanting someone to love you when no one else would. But now... what would you do now? You need a lover before you're seventeen."

"I... I don't know. I don't think I would be able to find one that quickly." Kyoko said, still in his arms. She started to feel warm inside, as Reino hugged her tighter.

"Then can I?"

"Huh?"

He loosened his grip, and nuzzled his forehead with hers.

"I love you."

Miroku was just going over to see if Reino was done calming down Kyoko, until he heard a sharp noise on the other side.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU SAID THAT!"

Out came Kyoko, fuming, probably even more than before. She stomped away, not noticing Miroku. When Miroku peeked in to see what Reino's expression would be, he saw his friend on his side.

"R-Reino?" Miroku hurried to Reino, only to see a red slap mark on his face. "Uh..."

"I don't know what I did wrong. I just said that I loved her."

This sent alarms in Miroku's mind. "Y-you? You confessed to our mistress?"

Miroku had known for a long time that Reino loved her dearly. In the beginning, Reino hated how she seemed like any girl, wanting love. But when he learned the reason why, how she strived her mom's love, her desire to be loved seemed reasonable. It made sense. Reino would pity the girl, but she never wanted it. She didn't need sympathy.

"And what did she do?" Miroku bent down, to see Reino just lying there on his side. He laughed. "What was the reason for her to slap you?"

Reino wasn't going to add anything to his humiliation, but he replied, "I said that I love her, and I let that sink in. Then after that, I said I didn't love her to the point I would be wanting to marry her, run off with her, and live happily ever after in another castle when we could have just stayed in the first."

...

"Man, you're way too honest. No girl wants to hear that. No wonder she slapped you." Miroku shook his head.

But Reino stayed still. He let his violet eyes meet grey, and he said, "I need her to understand that every time you hear someone say they love you, you shouldn't give your heart to them. If every time she gets heartbroken, and then the next guy comes, says he loves her, and the fact that she knows him already... the same process will happen again. I need... I need her to know that once she finds the right guy, that chain will break. She'll stay with him, and never be heartbroken."

Locking the information in his head, Miroku admitted, "But you do love her. Why did you say it like that?"

Reino shook his head. "I'm sure I don't love her as much as another guy, somewhere in this world. When I see him, our hearts are probably weighed and I'll see that I loved only a small percent from what he feels for her." Reino closed his eyes, and covered a palm over them. "And I want that guy to come quickly. I'm pretty sure Saena isn't going to just let her stay up top with legs. There's got to be a reason for her just not letting her be able to sing."

They both were left to their thoughts, when something rumbled in Reino. "Damn!" He stood right up, and ran out the door.

Miroku, left there in the room, shouted out, "Hey... Reino? REINO!"

Reino came to a nearby mirror, and shuddered as zigzagged a pattern on it. Gracefully and elegantly, he took out a bracelet, and glued it onto the mirror. This set the ordinary mirror from the one he was creating right now. There, in the middle of the bracelet, he saw an image. It was Saena, coming out of her prison.

No! How is that possible? She should have stayed there forever! Reino panicked, and tried to freeze her prison again. Even with her far away, he should be able to send his magic over there. He couldn't let her out! But she was able to shield his magic. This made the mirror rumble, shaking as the bracelet fell, letting his image of Saena fall.

She's out... and she'll hurt Kyoko again.