Hi everyone. Happy Valentines Day and Happy Birthday to the Purple Mermaid Princess, Karen! If you don't know, Karen's birthday is on the 14th of February while Noel's was yesterday. However, this will be Rina-centric. Enjoy.


Chapter 40: Follow the Guide to True Love

-Pearl Waters-

In the bath house, the girls, minus Seira, were discussing the Princess' birthday which is close to arriving.

"I think she'll love chocolate." Lucia whispered to Julie.

"Who wouldn't love chocolate?" she questioned. "Um, Lucia, why are we whispering?"

"In case if Seira were to come downstairs, I don't want her to overhear us." Lucia gave her reason.

"Oh."

"I'm home!" they heard Rina's voice from the door.

"Hi, Rina!" Lucia exclaimed. Then in a quiet tone, she asked, "What did you get?"

"I bought a two layered cake with strawberries on top." Rina whispered back.

"Hurry, Rina. Put it in the fridge, Seira is coming down right now!" Hanon replied urgently.

"Hi, everyone!" Seira cheerful entered the kitchen. Noticing the sudden quietness from her friends, she frowned and asked, "What's going on?"

"Nothing, Seira." Hanon lied, for a good reason.

From the look in Seira's eyes, the girls can tell that she isn't buying Hanon's answer. However, she decided not to push on the question.

"Okay, bye everyone!" she resumes back to her cheery self.

"Seira-san! Where are you going?" Hippo questioned.

"To see Takumi." Seira answered as if it was obvious.

"Absolutely not! I won't let a princess like you go out with a human boy!" Hippo was yelling, but was ignored by Seira.

After Seira left the bath house, Hippo gave up and walked up to the girls, who resume to their surprise party.

"Why won't any of you listen to me?" he asked.

"We do, Hippo. However, sometimes, you can be... A bit too much." Lucia answered.

"By the way, Hippo. You were out searching for months for Shika's hideout in the North Atlantic Ocean. Did you found it yet?" Rina questioned.

"Unfortunately, no. Despite your green mermaids offered assistance, we didn't find anything." Hippo admit disappointingly. He turned to the Red Princess. "Julie-san, how are your wounds?"

"It still stings, but other then that, I'm fine." Julie answered.

'I wonder, who is she planning to target?' she thought.

-Sea Cave-

In the Sea Cave, the Sea Witch is in the presence of the three wing demons. Today, she plans on using them as bait, for today... She is going to target one of the Mermaid Princesses. Who should she pick?

"Shika-sama, let me capture the Mermaid Princess." Lanhua pleaded.

'Is she begging? When did that happen? Was it because they failed me many times that they believed that I'll dispose of them? Well, that's particularly right.' Shika thought. 'I guess I'll used them a little while longer.'

"Alright. You may go Lanhua." Shika agreed.

"Thank you, Shika-sama. You won't regret it." the butterfly demon disappeared.

'I better not... At least on the days when I'm not playing around with the princesses lives.' Shika thought.

-Water-

In the water, Lanhua waited for at least one princess to come. Once that happen, the others will follow. To her luck, the twin Indigo and Purple Mermaid Princesses has appeared to her sight. She revealed her hiding spot to get their attention.

"Lanhua!" Karen exclaimed.

"I'm glad you remember me. To be honest, I though you might have forgotten since ugly mermaids like you wouldn't remember someone as beautiful as me." Lanhua insulted the twins.

The Purple Mermaid Princess seemed like she was about to explode in anger if it wasn't for her older sister to calm her down.

"Anyway, we don't have time for you! Either let us pass or we'll make you." Karen threatened.

"No time for moi? We'll see about that!" Lanhua opened her fan and started to spread sparkling flower petals at the two Mermaid Princesses. "Why don't you play with me?" with a wave of her fan.

"Kyaa!" the princesses cried as they are feeling the effects of the sparkly petals.

"Come, don't resist it! You'll be more beautiful and soon, Shika-sama will be very pleased." Lanhua replied.

"Stop right there!" Hanon exclaimed.

"What?" Lanhua stopped as the Aqua, Pink, Green, Yellow, and Red Mermaid Princesses descended next to their weaken friends.

"Karen?" Rina called out her friend's name as she supported her while Coco does the same with Noel.

"We're fine." Noel insisted.

"Just beat that lame beauty queen." Karen requested.

"You can count on that." Lucia gave a wink at the Purple Princess.

~Pink Pearl Voice!~

~Aqua Pearl Voice!~

~Red Pearl Voice!~

Lucia, Hanon, and Julie transformed into their idol forms.

"Pichi Pichi Voice Live Start!" they decided to sing Ever Blue.

Oto tatezu ni iro kaeteku
BEBII BURUU no sora wo mitsumetetara
Tooi kioku yomigaeru

Nee nanatsu no umi no mukou
Hora dareka ga naiteiru ki ga shite
Mune ga "KYUN" to setsunaku naru yo

"No!" Lanhua yelled as she has her hands to her ears.

Watashi wo tasukete...
Nanika ga shiraseru destiny
Hoshi no michibiki wo mune ni dakishimete

Sore wa EBAA BURUU kagayaku daisuki na ano umi yo
Mirai wo mamoru chikara wo ima atsumete
Aisubeki hito ga ite aisubeki basho ga aru
Kirameku aosa PYUA na kimochi no mama de mamoru tame ni

"Love Shower Pitch!" they finished their song with a pose. "Do you want an encore?"

"Today, you have won! But don't think you've beat me yet!" she declared before disappearing into butterflies.

"Looks like we did it." Hanon stated the obvious.

"Not quite!" Shika suddenly appeared.

"Shika!" Julie hissed at the Sea Witch.

"Relax, Julie. I'm not targeting you today. I have my eyes settle on someone else!" she throws a magic orb between the four princesses behind the three in the front.

"Rina, Noel, Karen, Coco!" Lucia called out her friends name as she, Hanon, and Julie turned around.

"Eh? What's this?" Hanon questioned as black smoke exploded from the orb.

The three covered their eyes, when black smoke spread around them. As the smoke was close to clearing up, Shika, at full speed, went straight into it. She then emerge from the smoke with something in her hands that no one had time to see. Julie opened her eyes a little bit to see a quick flash of green in the Sea Witch's hands. She then turned her attention back to the smoke when it clears. Only Coco, Noel, and Karen are present.

"EH?!" Hanon exclaimed that only Rina was not among the group.

"Where's Rina?" Lucia questioned in panic.

"She must have disappear in the smoke." Coco suggested.

"No." Julie disagreed. "Just now, I saw a green figure in Shika's hands..." she trailed off.

"Rina?" Noel asked hopefully.

"I'm not sure. It didn't look like Rina. Like some kind of..." Julie couldn't think of the word.

"Well, we won't know unless we find her, let's go." Karen replied as everyone agreed. After Lucia, Hanon, and Julie de-transform into their mermaid forms, they started their search for the Green Mermaid Princess.

-Land-

After searching for thirty minutes and finding nothing, the girls decided to return to the surface to regroup.

"Did you find her?" Noel questioned.

"No." Hanon answered.

Suddenly, a voice called out to them.

"Lucia-chan."

Lucia turned around to see Masahiro.

"Hamasaki-san."

"What are you doing here? And do you know where Rina is? I went to the bath house, but couldn't find her." Masahiro asked.

"Rina is... Rina is..." Noel couldn't finished her sentence.

"Rina is what? What happened to Rina?" Masahiro questioned, he became worried.

"Hamasaki-san... Rina... Is gone." Lucia answered.

"She's what?" Masahiro wasn't sure if he heard right.

"When we were battling, Shika appeared. She throw this weird orb at us and then Rina just... Vanished." Hanon explained.

"We have to find her!" Masahiro replied, he recklessly was about to jumped into the water.

"But we don't know where she is... And most of us are tired from searching." Coco reasoned with the man while Lucia and Hanon tried to restrain him from doing something stupid.

"I think I know what can help us." Julie spoke up. Everyone stop to turn their attention to her.

"What did you say, Julie?" Karen questioned.

"I might have something that can help, but first, we need to rest for a while." Julie replied as the mermaids agreed.

-Akari's Room-

The White Mermaid Princess was in her room, thinking about her past when Julie opened the door.

"Julie, what's wrong?" Akari was a bit startled by the sudden burst in.

"No time to explain. I need one of your feathers, Akari." Julie requested.

Akari didn't quite understand, but know that it's urgent. With a wave of her hand, one white feather appeared in her hand.

"Thanks, Akari. We need it to find Rina." Julie then headed downstairs.

-Water-

Back in the waters, Hanon and Lucia are in their mermaid forms. Joined with them is Masahiro and Kaito, who was called by Lucia. Hippo insisted to come, wanting to track Rina with the Pearl Radar, but for some strange reason, her pearl didn't appear. However, he insist to provide faster transportation in his Hippocampus form.

"So what do we do, Julie-chan?" Masahiro asked the Red Mermaid Princess.

"All you need to do is to follow this feather." Julie hold up the white feather to group.

"I don't understand." Masahiro replied. "How can a feather help us find Rina?"

Julie place the feather in his hands before explaining, "Many years ago, you were a prince cursed to take the form of a frog. It was the kiss of Rina's past self that saved you from being destroyed. I'm guessing when I saw that small flash of green, Shika turned her into a frog. Good luck."

"Wait, you're not coming?" Kaito asked.

Julie shook her head, "I can't. My wounds are still healing. It wouldn't be wised for me to make the same trip to the ocean twice in one day."

Just then, the wind started to pick up. The feather that was in Masahiro's hand started to soar into the sky.

"Follow it, Masahiro. If your love for Rina is strong just like in the ancient past, it shall lead you to her. After all, it is Fate's doing." the Red Princess replied.

"I understood." Masahiro answered as Hippo, in Hippocampus form, took the two mermaids, Kaito, and Masahiro to where the feather is going.

-Island-

In an island, not too far from Japan, the feather was hovering in the air while the group is trying to catch up. Hippo decided to stay behind since some sort of barrier is keeping him from joining the group. When they caught up, the feather softly fall on the ground. Masahiro picked it up.

"This is where it landed." Masahiro replied.

"It must be underground." Kaito suggested.

"Let's dig out the sand." Lucia replied as the group were ahead of her. It was Masahiro who dug a lot, like a lion desperately trying to find food. He continued until he heard a sound. He dug faster until a hidden door is revealed.

"I found it!" Masahiro exclaimed, he was getting excited that he's close to finding Rina. He opened the trap door to find an underground passage.

"It's very dark." Hanon comments.

"But if Rina is down there, I'm going." Masahiro decided as he was the first to go down the stairs. He was followed by Lucia, Kaito, and Hanon.

-Underground Maze-

In the dark area, which is only lit by a few candles, the group saw many tunnels and dead ends.

"This is a maze!" Kaito pointed out in frustration. He never like mazes.

Each dead ends they went has frogs. Some big, some fat, and some were warty.

"Now I understand the quote 'You have to kiss a lot of frogs to find your prince'. There's a lot of them." Lucia comments.

"Except, all of them are female and one of them is Rina." Kaito reminded her.

"Uh... This place is disgusting." Hanon comments. "Kyaa!"

"What? What is it Hanon?" Lucia asked, thinking she was attacked by some monster.

"It's slimy! Got it off of me!" Hanon yelled as a big slimy frog was on her arm. Some slime got on her skin as it slide off of her. "Gross!"

While passing one of the dead ends, Masahiro notice a frog that was unlike the other ones. The frog he found as small, slim, and wasn't warty. However, all it did was croak, so they continued.

'It must be an ordinary frog.' Masahiro thought sadly as they continue their way around the maze.

-Center-

At the center of the maze, they saw a frog. The biggest out of all the others they have seen, but the strangest thing is that this frog was see through.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't my favorite prince?" the frog talked.

"Excused me?" Masahiro was confused.

"I could have won if it wasn't for that princess who bestowed the Kiss of True Love on you!" the ghost frog snapped. The frog spirit turned into a woman. She has short hair and wore dark green. She sighs to calm herself down, "However, now that you're here. I can final have what I want."

She pulled on a cord, which is strange since she was a ghost, but when the string was given a tug, a cage fell on the group, trapping them inside.

"Oh no." Lucia muttered.

"We're trapped?!" Hanon questioned loudly in disbelief.

"Yes, you are. You shall remain trap in the center of my maze for all of eternity! Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha." the spirit of the witch disappeared.

Masahiro punched the ground with his hand, he didn't care that he just broke some of his bones.

"Blast! I was so close too." he angrily replied. His friends couldn't really comfort him, so they just watch silently. "Rina..."

Suddenly, whispering can be heard. Everyone looked up to see many green ghost balls. They gathered into one spot until a spirit appeared. It wasn't the witch, but a woman dressed in bright green. She has lime green hair and eyes. Her hair was tired in a loose low bun. She wears a green dress, lily pad green for the bodice and tea green for the skirt. Between the bodice and skirt, are lily accents. A green beaded floral side tiara was on her head. As for the spirit, she glows a bright green color.

"Rina?" Masahiro called out the name of his mermaid, however, the spirit did not answer.

Instead, she waved a hand and the cage disappeared. She floats out of the center of the maze. When she realized that she wasn't being followed, she turned and gestures the group to do so.

"I think she wants us to follow her." Lucia spoke as everyone agreed.

The spirit of the mysterious princess lead them to one of the dead ends that the group has already passed. There, the spirit pointed to the little frog that Masahiro already saw.

"That's Rina?" Masahiro asked.

The spirit nodded as Masahiro took the little frog into his cupped hands.

"Rina, forgive me. I didn't recognized you and passed by you, thinking that you were an ordinary creature." Masahiro apologized.

Just then, the underground maze started to shake.

"W-What is going on?" Hanon asked as she ties to regain her balance despite the shaking floors.

"If you won't stay here willingly, then you all shall be buried here alive. Once the sun sets, you'll be trapped here forever!" the voice explained.

"We have to get out of here!" Kaito replied.

"Mm!" the girls agreed as they started to run.

Unfortunately, when they got closer to the exit, they stop to find three tunnels. Only one leads to the real exit.

"Which one is it? We don't have time to search all of them." Masahiro questioned.

The spirit floated by them and pointed to the left tunnel and gestures them to follow her again.

"Hurry!" Kaito shouted as the group followed the spiritual princess.

-Outside-

Once they reached outside, just before the sun was gone, they turned to see the doors shut and disappeared.

"That was a close one." Hanon comments.

"Thank you." Masahiro told to spirit. As if by magic, the spirit touched her throat. She slowly moved her lips.

"I-I can speak! I can talk again! I'm free!" the spirit spoke for the first time. "Thank you, Masahiro."

"So... Who are you?" Kaito questioned.

The spirit looked at him and smiled. She gave a small curtsy, "I'm Princess Rita, the wife of the Frog Prince. In other words, I'm Rina's past self."

"Rina's fairytale life?" Lucia repeated.

It was a bit strange to meet Rina's past self without Rina actually being her. In this point of view, it was like Rina and Rita were two different person when they're not. Normally, they would see Julie, Akari, or Miyuki transformed into their fairytale self.

"Yes, I couldn't speak for when that Sea Witch turned my present self into a frog, I lost my voice." Princess Rita answered. "To find you, I had to separate from Rina. If I had not done so, Rina would have spoken despite she is in that form... But fear not, I'll return to my present self's body. You know what to do next right, Masahiro?" she gave him a wink. "It's the one magic that I gave you to free you from your curse..." she hinted before merging with Rina.

The little frog croak as Masahiro stared down on her. He was about to kiss her when he notice that Kaito, Lucia, and Hanon were looking at them. Knowing that Rina would feel somewhat uncomfortable in the presence of her friends, who would tensed her about it later, he asked for some privacy.

"Aw!" Hanon pouted at her chance of seeing a romantic scene.

Once the three left, Masahiro turned his attention back at Rina.

"I won't keep you waiting any longer, Rina." Masahiro kissed the Frog Princess as she glows the same bright green color as her past self. He put her onto the ground as Rina transformed back into a human.

"Masahiro." Rina spoke happily as she hugged her prince. After all, he is her prince that nobody can take away.

-Pearl Waters-

When the group returned to the bath house, the other girls asked them about their little adventure. Only Lucia didn't stay for long and went to her sister's room.

"Julie?" Lucia called out her sister's name.

"Yes, Lucia?" Julie turned.

"Today, I met Rita, Rina's past self. I thought that you have to transform into them because you're the same person, right?"

"Unlike us, originals Mermaid Princesses, who's past life were sealed, our past selves merged with our pearls to be reborn. Other heroes can have a piece of them from being with their present self, like Rita today. Despite most of her spirit is in the Green Pearl so she can reincarnate into Rina, a piece of her wasn't. You shouldn't worry too much about it. They're now whole and complete again." Julie explained.

-Sea Cave-

In the underwater cave, the Sea Witch was enjoying her fun. It was very amusing for her to watch.

"Now, who shall be my next victim?" she questioned. "Ah, yes. Watch out, Aqua Mermaid Princess. You're next on my list!"


I hope you have enjoyed this chapter. Remember to Favorite, Follow, and Review. Next, on Undeniable Love...

Lucia: Hanon are you okay?

Hanon: Hanon? Who's Hanon? My name is Mizu!

Rina: What are you talking about Hanon?

Hanon: My name isn't Hanon! My name is Mizu!

Hippo: Hanon-san where are you going?

Hanon: I have to warn him!

Next time, on Undeniable Love Chapter 41: A debt that hasn't been paid.