Chapter Eighteen: The Light of a Pure Heart

Each day, Natsumi would sing her song over and over, again and again, wondering which one would sound good enough for Minerva to use as the final recording. Similarly, each day, Natsumi would drag herself home, feeling like a zombie. Rei tried to exorcise the evil presence, but her attempts failed and she simply wrote Natsumi off, saying she had no idea what was wrong. Natsumi's break time was withering away and school was looming on the horizon. Finally, one fine day, Minerva announced that recording was now complete and mixing was up next, which wouldn't take as long to do.

Only three days later, an advance copy of Moonlight Densetsu performed by Natsumi Aino was in Natsumi's hands. Naturally, she wanted to celebrate this milestone, so she decided to throw an advance release party at the agency. Her fear of paparazzi led her to invite only her friends and family, plus some of the other people at the agency, and she made every single person invited swear that they wouldn't tell the media or anybody else about the party.

"I feel so un-glamorous," Sayaka mumbled to Aiko as they entered the party, flanked by Makoto, Toshiya, Haruka, and Michiru. All six people were dressed in casual clothing, thinking that this party would be a casual get-together of friends and family. Indeed, the friends and family were all dressed casually; however, the other models at the agency were all dressed to the nines.

"You're not the only one," Aiko, who still had bad memories of this agency, replied as she nervously stroked her hair, an act that led Haruka to put her hand on her daughter's shoulder protectively.

"Sayaka! Aiko! Hi!" Natsumi, who was clad in a slinky purple figure-hugging dress, called out as she ran over and bowed deeply. "Hello, Makoto-san, Toshiya-san, Haruka-san, Michiru-san, how are you all doing?"

"Oh, Natsumi, you look so happy," Michiru noted. "You're glowing!"

"Thanks! This is a big milestone for me!" Natsumi replied cheerfully.

"Nacchi, we didn't dress up," Sayaka pointed out.

"We thought this event would be casual," Aiko added.

"I'm sorry about that," Natsumi said as she tugged at the hem of her dress to show it off proudly. Aiko and Sayaka shot one another a glance that suggested it wasn't just a coincidence. They mutually thought that Minerva purposefully wanted everyone who wasn't affiliated with her agency to feel inadequately dressed.

Sakura chatted amicably with Reiko and Keiko at the refreshment table while they picked out food from a delightful spread that was going basically untouched by the models.

"I can't believe that nobody is touching this food!" Sakura exclaimed as she piled her plate high with cookies.

"Sakku, these people are models. They're not going to eat the foods here," Reiko pointed out as she stabbed a cube of cheese with a toothpick and plopped it onto her plate.

"They probably all ate a slice of M&M earlier and are good to go," Keiko added, giggling, while she poured herself some fruit punch.

"A slice?" Reiko asked. "You eat M&Ms whole."

"Models don't," Keiko replied.

While Suzumi was flaunting her new hairstyle to Natsumi, who approved of it, Minerva suddenly turned on a microphone, which caused feedback to resonate through the room. Everyone cringed in pain, but the feedback was quickly resolved.

"Sorry about that, ladies and gentlemen," Minerva said sheepishly. "Technical difficulties. They're the worst, aren't they?" This joke caused some of the guests to chuckle patronizingly—Minerva was not known for her comedic abilities. "Everyone, today I am proud to present the debut single from up-and-coming singer slash model, Natsumi Aino! Natsumi, would you like to say a few words?" Natsumi hustled over to the microphone.

"Hi everyone, I'm Natsumi," she began, waving hello. "And I'm nervous. This is my debut single and you are getting to hear it before anyone else. Why? Because you all are the people who are close to me and well, I thought it would be wrong not to have an event like this. Please enjoy my debut single, Moonlight Densetsu." She left the microphone to thunderous applause and intermittent cheering provided by her friends, and then she sat down next to Minerva, who was starting the song up.

"Nervous?" Minerva asked.

"Yeah," Natsumi confessed as the intro played. Some of the guests nodded in approval at the instrumentation right before Natsumi's voice kicked in.

Gomen ne sunao ja nakute

Yume no naka nara ieru

Shikou kairo wa short sunzen

Ima sugu aitai yo

"This song is cool," Keiko reported. "Maybe I should review it for the paper when it's released."

Nakitaku naru you na moonlight

Denwa mo dekinai midnight

Datte junjou doushiyou

Heart wa mangekyou

"Nacchi sounds really good," Suzumi said to Aiko, who nodded.

Tsuki no hikari ni michibikare

Nando mo meguriau

"Are you feeling kind of tired?" Sakura suggested to Reiko.

"How can you possibly be tired? You've eaten five cookies!" Reiko pointed out. "Actually, I'm feeling kind of sleepy myself."

Natsumi saw some people yawning and otherwise expressing exhaustion and was hurt, thinking that these people didn't like her song, which made her worried. Minerva smiled maliciously as she viewed Natsumi's reaction, knowing very well what was going to happen after the first verse was over.

Seiza no matataki kazoe

Uranau koi no yukue

Onaji kuni ni umareta no

Miracle Romance

Right as a short instrumental began, the guests all simultaneously felt exhausted, so much so that each and every one of them fainted right on the spot. Natsumi and Minerva were the only ones still conscious. When Minerva was assured that everyone else was unconscious, she stopped the music.

"Oh my God!" Natsumi cried, clapping her hands to her mouth as her eyes widened. "Minerva! What happened to everyone?" Before Natsumi could get a proper answer, Minerva stood up from her chair, held her right hand aloft, and cried out "Minerva Power, Make Up!" A brilliant pink flash covered her and she was instantly transformed. She now wore a two-piece sailor suit with a purple collar and bow, a pink button, pink bow in the back, a purple skirt with a pink hem, and purple pumps.

"Finally, with these people's energy, I grew powerful enough to transform," Minerva bragged. "For this I am thankful. Natsumi, perhaps you should know why this is happening." Natsumi was already rooting around in her clutch for her transformation stick, which she took everywhere with her. "Don't do that." She pointed to Natsumi, who was electrically shocked and didn't look for her transformation stick anymore. "You see, Natsumi, I serve Chaos, helping it to take a human form eventually. That hasn't happened yet, but my friends and I were sent here to gather energy that we then transfer to Chaos, allowing it to grow." Minerva paused. "These people are being used to fuel Chaos right now and are completely unaware of it."

"That's evil!" Natsumi protested, snatching her transformation stick from her purse. "Mini Venus Power, Make Up!" she shouted, transforming before Minerva could stop her.

"You're fast!" Minerva commented. "But are you smart? Smart enough to start connecting the dots between your frequent bouts with exhaustion and the things I just told you about my master, Chaos?" Natsumi started to mentally connect the dots. "Natsumi, you are also being used as fuel."

"I won't allow it anymore! I won't allow you to use the people I love for such a terrible cause!" Natsumi protested.

"Then come at me with everything you have," Minerva commanded.

"With pleasure." Natsumi conjured up a whip and lashed out at Minerva, who completely blocked the attack.

"Is that it? That's all you have? That's so pathetic," Minerva replied, grinning before zapping Natsumi with a beam of dark energy that landed on her right shoulder. She yelped in pain and clutched her injured shoulder protectively before creating another whip and lashing out at Minerva again with the same results. "Pathetic!" Minerva curled her hand into a fist and quickly uncurled it, which caused jagged shards of dark energy to emerge and pin Natsumi to the nearby wall. Though she struggled to free herself from her newly-imposed immobility, she failed. "Face it, kid, you're a failure without the rest of your friends here to defend you." Minerva indicated Natsumi's friends, who were all unconscious. "Unfortunately, soon they will be completely drained of energy. Do you know what happens when someone is completely drained? They die."

"I won't let that happen!" Natsumi cried. Everyone, help me. If you can hear me, if you can sense me, please help me in any way that you can. She shut her eyes to concentrate on her plea and suddenly felt as if she were truly glowing. Her eyes were shut, so she could not see the fact that she was, indeed, glowing as six faint orbs of white light intersected and plunged deep into her chest, defeating the dark curse inside.

We'll help you out! the voices of Natsumi's friends rang out in her head. Now, use this sword and defeat Minerva!

What sword? Natsumi asked, but her question was answered as the handle of a sword emerged from her button. She opened her eyes and grasped the sword's pure white handle, slowly extracting it, fearing that it would hurt as it emerged from within her body. However, it didn't hurt one bit. The sword was made of shining silver metal with a glowing heart shape shining a combination of red, gold, green, blue, and aqua near the handle. Once the sword was fully removed, Natsumi moved her hands so she could grip it properly.

Do it, Natsumi! Stab Minerva right in her heart! Aim for the button!

The button! Natsumi thought, nodding slightly, before releasing a ferocious warrior cry that caused the five pins holding her to the wall to shatter. Minerva was startled by the cry, the power, and the sword all at once, which momentarily stunned her. This was Natsumi's best chance and she gladly seized it, charging with the point of the sword aimed directly at Minerva's pink button. When she pierced the button, Natsumi thought of everyone that was currently unconscious and wished for them to come back. Minerva screamed out in pain as the sharp sword made its way through her button and into her black heart. The heart glowed white and Minerva's eyes went dead the second before she turned to a pile of ash that disappeared, leaving Natsumi standing there, holding her sword in awe.

"I did this!" she cried out in victory. "Yes!" She pondered the sword and realized that the unconscious people would soon regain consciousness. Her fears were somewhat assuaged, however, when she realized that all the models and people who didn't already know about her powers were dissolving into piles of ash as well. "Everyone, please come back now!" She raised her sword high and the white light engulfed the entire room, healing the unconscious and bringing them back to consciousness.

"Nacchi!" Sakura, who was nearest to Natsumi, cried out. "Nacchi, look at your sword!"

"You helped me make it," Natsumi replied. "I called out for your help and you gladly gave what you could. Everyone else helped me, too," she added as she noticed Reiko, Keiko, Suzumi, Sayaka, and Aiko all staring in awe. "Thank you, everyone." She pressed her button and de-transformed, her sword disappearing back into her pure heart until the next time it would become necessary.