Before you scroll down and go straight to the episode, hear me out. I know it’s been forever since I put long, specific comments up front, and believe me, I still don’t want to, but I think everyone has to read this before anything else.
This is why I love reviews so much. It shows me which parts are confusing, or which parts appeal to the audience most. Maggyd gave me an eye-opening review on Episode 20. I think some of the other readers asked the questions she did, so…yeah. OK. Let’s get this started.
Maggyd: I got a little confused when you switched from an Aiko scene to a Mai scene.
That part…I really didn’t put any “—”s there. The separator was the line “she was right”. But I’ll try to fix it, anyway. When I think of a way to rewrite that part so that the transition is clear, I’ll post it again 
Maggyd: I thought that the first scene was a little bit unlike Aiko, but then again I hadn’t read this in a long time and forgot the significance of her necklace. .;;
It wasn’t so much about the necklace (although the thing IS important to her), but it was more of the experience. The aftershock was because she kinda thought that maybe she was raped or something. She couldn’t remember anything, right? Man, if THAT happened to me, I think I’d be freaking out, too…
Maggyd: that was probably the part that irked me the most, how the people that knew these two girls best didn’t stop to wonder about why they would change their appearances when they had only changed them a short while ago.
THIS I have to explain since almost everyone commented on this. If you’ve lost track of which girl has the dyed hair and which hasn’t, I don’t blame you. I mean, I release but once a month, right? ‘K, lemme put an outline on here:
Episode 16: Carnival — Aiko: blue hair, grey eyes. Mai: black hair, brown eyes
Episode 17: Wings — Aiko: black hair, brown eyes. Mai: blue hair, grey eyes
Episode 18: Meeting — Aiko: black hair, brown eyes. Mai: blue hair, grey eyes
Episode 19: Fading — Aiko: black hair, brown eyes. Mai: black hair, brown eyes (except in Aiko’s flashback, of course)
Episode 20: Switch — Aiko: black hair, brown eyes. Mai: black hair, brown eyes
So when Mai and Aiko accidentally switched and switched back in the past episode, nobody noticed. As of the moment, Aiko and Mai are the mirror image of each other. OK? OK.
So there. That’s it for the comments for now. On with the show!
Episode 21: Dearest
Her favorite part of their house was the rooftop. There were no tall buildings for miles, so if you stood there on a cloudless night, you could see the stars clearly. She went up there if she wanted some time alone to clear her head when it was too late into the night that she couldn’t go to the park. On top of the roof, there was nothing that could break the wind. The wind and the stars put together had never failed to lift her spirits.
Until tonight.
This night was the epitome of irony. She was inwardly angry at Mother Nature for making the evening so perfect, yet she had nothing to celebrate. She was going to say good-bye to one of the people she cared about the most. And she was finally going to accept that ’she’ was truly gone…
Goodness, she couldn’t even say the girl’s name…
“Rieka…”
She almost jumped when she heard the all-too-familiar voice behind her. Tears instantly stung her eyes, and she suddenly regretted the decision she had made. She felt him sit behind her, his back resting on hers. For a few minutes, they just sat there in equilibrium, relishing the time they had. No one spoke a word, and the only sound heard was the rustling of the trees below them as the wind blew.
“Rieka,” he finally said, breaking the silence, “I promised you—”
“Who cares about that promise?!” she snapped, surprising even herself.
She heard him sigh, and she felt the weight of his back leave hers.
“Rieka,” he repeated. “I promised you I wasn’t going to let you back out on this.”
She whirled around to face him, her brown eyes burning. “Then break it!”
“I can’t,” he said sadly. “You know I can’t.”
“Why?”
He smiled, taking her hand, “Because I don’t break promises.”
She looked away, unable to stand his kind gaze that she had grown to adore. She flinched when she felt him put something cold in her hand before gently pushing it back to her. She looked at the closed fist on her lap. The last thing she wanted to do was open it.
“At first I didn’t approve of your plan,” he said. “But I came to realize that you were right.”
“No, I wasn’t,” she said stubbornly. “I wasn’t!”
“You were,” he insisted.
“But, Ran…”
Her voice was choked, and she felt her tears finally starting to fall. She knew she must look pretty pathetic to him right now, but she didn’t care.
“Ran…I don’t want to—”
“Dearest,” he interrupted her, his ashen eyes smiling at her, “I will always, always be with you. Remember that.”
“But it’s unfair!” she protested. “You can see me, but I won’t be able to see you!”
“The other day… You said, ‘Just think of the daughter I still have. If we don’t do this, what will become of her?’ That was what you had said, and it struck me to the core. That was what convinced me.”
She looked away again as her own words were laid out before her. There was no way out of this, she knew. She looked at her hand resting on her lap again, and finally opened it. Inside was a blue heart pendant on a silver necklace. She smiled.
“Blue and silver. Quite expected.”
“You know me.”
She took the chain and put it on, thumbing the cold pendant that rested near her collarbone.
“So I guess this is good-bye, isn’t it?” she said.
“Not quite. This is ’see you later’.”
She nodded, a sad smile on her lips. She covered her new necklace with her left hand, and closed her eyes.
Aiko…
The character for “light” glowed brightly on the back of her hand. It shot out into the night, but she was sure nobody saw it, anyways; the light of the Mark was invisible to the human eye. When she opened her eyes, she was alone on the rooftop, and the wind had stopped. She mentally willed the wind to blow again, but nothing happened. The night was deafeningly still.
She climbed back into their house stealthily. She was on her way to her daughter’s room when the phone suddenly rang, its shrill sound tearing across the quiet house. She hurriedly ran to it, and picked up the receiver.
“Hello?” she whispered.
“Rieka?” came a familiar voice.
“Hello, Megumi…”
For a moment, there was silence from the other end of the line.
“Rie… Did you do it?”
“Yes.”
Again, a pregnant pause.
“I sensed it when you did the transfer. Rieka, what if the Roses sensed it, too? What if they come to get you?”
“Then I’ll be ready.”
“But—”
“I’ll be ready.”
Silence.
“You’re one stubborn woman, you know that?”
“Takes one to know one.”
“Whatever. But how about Ran? Where is he now?”
In the dark hallway, Kazetenshi Rieka smiled.
“He’s right beside me, Megumi.
He’ll always be beside me.”
——-0——-
Kaji squinted as his maroon bangs whipped at his face.
This night seemed to be one of surprises. Yuki had left right after dinner to go to the Toriyamas, saying she had something to do with Kamui. When he asked her what it was, though, she just huffed and hurried out the door. When he had called the Toriyama residence to inteview Kamui, instead, he got a busy signal. He almost tried the Kazetenshi residence, too, but decided against it, figuring they wouldn’t know about Yuki’s plans, anyways. He was about to go back to his book when his own phone rang. It was Aiko.
“Hey, Kaji? Can I ask you a weird favor?…Can you go the Mound right now? Don’t tell anyone you’re going, OK?”
And now, here he was, flying to the park. He had no idea why Aiko had called him, and every time he tried to think of a possible reason, his mind drew a blank. Finally, Aiko’s Thinking Mound came into view…
“Hey…”
“Hao, Kaji. Thanks for coming.”
He wordlessly shrugged as he sat down beside her on the grass.
“No, really, thanks. It’s already late and I realized that maybe I dragged you out of bed. I didn’t want to disturb you, it’s just… I just didn’t know who else to call.”
At this, Kaji looked at Aiko. She looked pretty apologetic, but she also seemed –what was the right word?– troubled. Kaji smiled, trying to hide the fact that he was troubled because she was troubled.
Argh. Sometimes he hated Aiko’s effects on him.
“You don’t have to explain, y’know,” he told her with a chuckle. “It’s no prob.” But he knew that his comment was going to be ignored, anyways. Aiko gave explanations to her actions when she wanted to. At times, she did so even when it’s not needed. Times like now.
“It’s just that the phone at Kamui’s place was busy — Sara’s probably having having her usual all-night chatting sessions with her friends — and Kamui isn’t answering his cellphone, either, and Oniichan wasn’t at home, and so was Midori…”
Kaji felt his smile wane, but he tried with all his might not to let it fall.
-Well, Hino, whaddya expect?- said the little voice in his head.
Nothing.
-No, it wasn’t nothing… You were actually excited that she decided to call YOU when she needed someone to talk to! Ha! Haven’t you already learned that Tori— –
Shut. Up.
“I told you,” Kaji said out loud. “It’s no problem…”
Aiko smiled at him before turning to look out into the wide stretch of dark green grass before them. Kaji suppressed a sigh as he watched her absently fiddle with her shoelaces. The ironies of his life simply had to be so…ironic.
“Kaji…”
“Hm?”
“If you could be something — anything — what would you be?”
“If I could be anything?” Kaji echoed absently. Aiko was looking at him again, her right cheek resting on her knees as her arms hugged her legs crossed in front of her. She looked so cute, he just wanted to hug her.
Needless to say, he didn’t.
“Anything.” she repeated, nodding.
“Well,” he started, trying to think of a good, honest answer. “I don’t really know…”
When Aiko’s eyes narrowed at him, he just laughed, turning his eyes skyward.
“I dunno…maybe I’d want to be a star…”
“But you are a Star.”
“I meant an astronomical star, silly,” he said, poking Aiko’s forehead.
“Oh…Why?”
“So I could watch over the people I–… the people I wanna watch over…” he said, trailing off. To Kaji, Aiko looked like she was looking right through his words and straight into his brain.
NOT a good thought.
“What about you?” he asked, deciding to divert the attention away from himself. “What do you wanna be?”
Aiko looked out into the dark horizon again, the smile on her lips disappearing. The wind picked up as she tilted her head to look up at the sky. “I wish…I wish I was an eagle…” she said, the wind blowing through her soft hair. “I just wish I could fly…”
“Rookie. You are a Blue Star. You can fly.”
“Oh yeah,” she said with a small smile. She closed her eyes, and, heaving a sigh, let herself fall on the grass, surprising him.
Man. Aiko was troubled, wasn’t she?
She didn’t react even when she felt Kaji quietly lie down beside her. Honestly, Aiko didn’t know why she was asking Kaji all those questions. She didn’t even know why she asked him to meet her in the first place. Maybe she just needed to be with the Stars after her experience at the Deathrose palace. Maybe she just needed to see who her teammates were again. Maybe she just wanted to talk to Kaji.
Truth be told, when Aiko realized she badly needed someone to talk to, Kaji was the first person to come to mind. This, of course, bewildered her because Kamui was her best friend. She was supposed to call him when she needed someone. Don’t get her wrong, though. She still loved Kamui to death, and she thought that maybe he was still the best person to talk to that night, but the fact still remains that she had thought of Kaji first.
After one whole minute of staring at the phone, she decided to stop thinking about it, and just go on ahead and call Kamui. But she couldn’t contact him. Although she had wanted to call Kaji already, Aiko decided to call Midori, instead. But she wasn’t at home. Probably out with Rei, she thought.
Funny that she ended up calling Kaji, anyways.
Aiko sighed again as her brown eyes scanned the countless diamonds on the black blanket above them.
“What’re you thinking about?” Kaji’s voice broke through her thoughts.
What was she thinking about?
“Do you think,” she said, “among the numerous stars in the galaxy, there could be two stars that are exactly alike?”
“Hmm…I don’t think so. I think, scientifically, that’s not possible… Like, two stars could be of exacly the same size, but they must have different ages, temeratures, compositions, and… well, whatever other attribute stars have…” Kaji suddenly stopped and laughed. “Why’re you asking me anyway? You’re the science whiz!”
“I am not.”
“You are, too.”
“Am not.”
“Are, too.”
“Oh, hush.”
“Fine.”
A pause.
“Kaji?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you think–…Do you believe in soulmates?”
For a moment, Kaji didn’t say anything. She finally turned to him, and saw that he was still looking up at the stars above them.
“Yeah,” he answered after a while. “Yeah, I believe in soulmates…”
“Have you found yours?” she asked almost involuntarily. It was a pretty private question, she knew, but she couldn’t help it. Kaji turned to her, and Aiko felt herself instantly blush. She must be as red as a tomato, she thought, but, either Kaji didn’t notice, or he just decided to be poker-faced about it.
“It’s not mine to say.” was his quiet answer as he gazed at her, making her eyebrows furrow.
“How is that?”
“How do I explain it?” he thought out loud. “Tell me something: do you know yourself? I mean, like, entirely know yourself inside out? Do you think you know exactly who you are?”
“Well…” Aiko started, hesitating. “I don’t think I know myself entirely… I mean, I didn’t create myself, right? So I have yet to find out things I never knew about myself…things I never imagined I can do…things I never thought I could feel…”
Aiko trailed off, and she suddenly wanted to punch herself smack on her face.
Oh my God. Did I just SAY that?!
Aiko had to restrain herself from sighing in relief when Kaji turned his attention back to the night sky. “I never considered soulmates to be two people who’re exactly the same,” he said. “I always thought of them as opposites.”
“Opposites?”
“Yeah. Opposites attract, right? Like, the North and South poles, Yin and Yang, winter ‘n’ summer, moon and sun… They’re exact opposites, but they go together, compliment each other. But, since we won’t ever entirely know ourselves, we won’t know what our exact opposite is. It ain’t ours to say if someone’s our complement or not, so, it ain’t ours to say if we’ve met our complement or not. The same goes even if soulmates are exactly the same. Since you don’t entirely know yourself, then it ain’t yours to say if someone else is entirely like you. But then, that’s what’s great about it. Not knowing everything just makes life more interesting…”
Aiko smiled as she let her brain absorb his words. She had to hand it to him: Kaji sure knew how to explain things. It had been quite a while since she heard him talk like this, too… When was the last time she had a nice, long talk with the leader of the Blue Stars, anyway? She couldn’t even remember.
“You know what, Kaji?”
“What?”
“I missed you.”
————–
“Checkmate.”
“Rematch.”
“Again?!”
“Of course.”
Kamui shook his head as Yuki stood up and looked at the pictures strategically distributed around the Toriyama living room.
“Really, Yuki, I don’t get it…”
“Get what?”
“How you can be as brilliant as you are, but, at the same time, totally suck at chess.”
“Keep quiet and set up the board.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Yuki had called Kamui up the previous week, asking him if he could teach her to play chess. Actually, he had never heard her even mention the word ‘chess’ before that. But then, for no reason at all (according to Yuki), she had decided to study the game. Kamui didn’t know what had suddenly driven her to try to learn chess, but it had to be something to make her this persistent about it. He and Yuki had been playing for around two hours now, and man, oh man, did Yuki have a fighting spirit!
“You know, Yuki, you shouldn’t make a move just to make a move.”
“I don’t make a move just to make a move!” Yuki defended as she put a picture frame back in its place. “I make a move to eat as much of your pieces as possible. Isn’t that what I’m supposed to do?”
“Well, sort of… Remember, the objective of the game is NOT to eat your opponent’s pieces. The objective is to catch the king. You have to be willing to sacrifice some of your pieces if it’ll trap your opponent to compromise his king. You have to have an endgame, Yuki, not take things move by move.”
“Hm…”
Kamui looked up from putting the last piece on the board to see the Ice Maiden looking curiously at one of the picture frames. He rolled his eyes. Was she even listening to him? No wonder her game wasn’t improving!
“Yuki…” he said, scratching his hair.
“I didn’t know Aiko did this when you guys were kids,” she said out of nowhere.
“Huh? Did what?”
“Dye her hair and wear contacts.”
“Ai-chan never did that before…”
“Then how come she looks like this in this picture?”
His eyebrows furrowing, Kamui stood up and walked over to where Yuki was.
“See?” she said, pointing at the picture in her hands. Kamui almost laughed. It was the exact same photo Kaji was intensely trying to ‘decipher’ several months ago.
“She’s just four years old there, Yuki, she can’t wear contacts yet,” he said, taking the photo from her. “It’s just the sunset changing some of the colors.”
“Oh. OK… Aiko looks cute with a boy’s cut; I wonder why she keeps her hair long.”
“She always liked her hair long. Actually, I don’t remember her ever having a boy’s cut. If it weren’t for this, I wouldn’t have believed it myself, either.”
“It’s called infant amnesia,” Yuki said, making her way back to their table. “Most people don’t remember anything that happened before they turned 5…”
“I guess so…” Kamui said, taking one last glance at the picture. He was about to put it back in its place when he did a double-take. Looking at the four-year-old brown-eyed, black-haired girl shyly smiling in the picture, one image flashed before his eyes. A smiling, blushing, mysterious raven-haired, brown-eyed girl who wore a baseball cap.
Mai…
Kamui frowned, firmly placing the picture frame on the tabletop.
Get a grip, Toriyama, he thought. It’s the sunset changing the colors, you know that! That girl is the blue-haired, grey-eyed Ai-chan. Kazetenshi Aiko. Your BEST FRIEND, remember her?
Yeah, it was just the sunset…
Wasn’t it?
————–
“Ha…HA… HAA-CHOO!“
Aiko sniffled, rubbing her nose. “I’m going to get you for this, Oniichan,” she muttered under her breath.
She had just gotten home from training at Ran’s that morning when Hikaru had intercepted her.
“I promised Dad I was going to clean the attic,” he had said. “But I haven’t been training the past days either, and Ran’s going to clobber me if I don’t show up there today.”
“So what are you implying?”
“Can you please PLEASE take over my chores today?”
“You mean clean the attic?”
“Yes…”
“No.”
At this point, Hikaru went down on his knees and begged. “Please, Ai-chan? Pleeease?”
“Oniichan, that’s the ATTIC!”
“Please, o wonderful, beautiful, magnificent, darling sister of mine whose kindness and compassion is beyond understanding?”
And that was how she ended up spending the afternoon with a vacuum cleaner in the dusty attic. She sighed, tightening the knotted handkerchief binding her hair.
“If only Oniichan wasn’t so– GAAAH!“
Aiko screamed, jumping up, when a cockroach scuttled across the floor. With her heart pounding on her ribcage, she stayed airborne. At that moment among others, she was extremely grateful she had the ability to fly.
Do NOT fly, you filthy little pest, she threatened the insect when it started to climb the wall, or else I will—
“YAAA!”
-KZZZT!-
Silence.
Aiko opened one tightly shut eye before opening the other. Her eyes frantically searched the ceiling and walls for the offending insect, but she saw nothing. Instead of being relieved, she felt more nervous. What if it was on top of her head? Or her shoulder? She absolutely hated it when she couldn’t see her opponent!
She was able to let go of her breath, though, when her eyes turned downwards, and found the cockroach dead (fried) on the floor.
I. Hate. Cockroaches. I HATE flying cockroaches.
Her adrenaline finally subsiding, Aiko floated down until her feet touched the wood underneath her. She sighed, shaking her head at the chaos before her. When she had jumped up in surprise, she had also literally thrown the tube of her vacuum cleaner, making it hit a box, which, in turn, fell off the shelf, setting numerous pieces of paper free to scatter themselves on the floor.
I HATE cockroaches…
She kneeled down, and started picking up the pieces of paper. They looked quite old: they were a bit stiff, and the ‘whiteness’ of the paper seemed to have faded to a light yellow color. It was nowhere near antique, but it definitely had its share of time on the earth. Curious, Aiko began to read the consistent, even handwriting.
“February 14th.
“My goodness. I don’t think I can find a man as clichéic — if there is such a word.”
Aiko’s eyebrows furrowed, yet her lips were arched in an amused smile.
“I was painting a piece requested by one of my most important clients when he went to my studio today. Yoshiyuki-san had wanted me to paint something under the title, ‘The Perfect Woman’. When Ken found out about this, he asked me if I had a model for my piece, because he said I did it so well. Well, I didn’t have a physical model, I told him, because the perfect woman didn’t exist in the real world, anyway. It’s an ideal that exists only in the minds and imagination of people, methinks. You know what he said? He said, ‘Then that means I’m not real, doesn’t it?’
“Anyone told that cryptic line would have asked what I did. I asked him ‘Why?’. He said, ‘Because I’m in the presence of the perfect woman!’ Now, if THAT wasn’t clichéic, I don’t know what is.”
Aiko couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
“But, if you ask me, I don’t think I’ll find a man as romantic, either. Oh my goodness…I think I’m blushing just thinking about it…
“And I can’t believe I just wrote that.
“Oh! Megumi’s calling me. I’ve got to go. I’ll write about that later, I promise. I can’t NOT write down what happened.
Rie “
Aiko glanced around the room, frowning, when she realized she still had a lot of work to do. But then, she was intrigued of what romantic thing ‘Ken’ did!
In the end, the self-disciplined Aiko took charge over her emotional self. She gathered the pieces of paper as fast (and as carefully) as she could, and put them back in the box, deciding to read the rest after cleaning.
————–
There were times when she would just sit on her dresser, staring at the mirror for no reason. Sometimes, she would do this so long, her face didn’t seem to make sense anymore. Sometimes, she suddenly realized they were starting to look like plain shapes. This night was one of them. It wasn’t that her vision was blurred. Her face simply looked like…shapes.
Until a knock on her door jolted her awake.
“Mai-sama?” came a voice from outside.
“Yes?” she answered, glancing at her reflection on the mirror again. Her face was back to normal.
“Dinner’s ready…”
“I…I’m not hungry, Kaori-san. You can go on and eat without me.”
For a moment, there was silence.
“Mai-sama… are you feeling all right?”
The Deathrose Princess stood up, made her way to the door, and peeked outside. Concerned emerald eyes greeted her.
“I’m all right, Kaori-san, maybe I just ate too much at lunch,” Mai said with a smile.
“But you didn’t eat dinner the other night, either…”
“But I ate last night, didn’t I?” she answered with a grin. “Really, I’m all right, Kaori.”
Kaori looked down at the tray of food in her hands, as if to say, ‘So what am I going to do with this?’ Mai chuckled, then took the tray.
“All right, I’ll take that. I’ll eat it later.”
This seemed to comfort Kaori a bit, as she smiled and bowed before leaving. “Have a good rest, Mai-sama.”
When Mai had closed the door behind her, she put the try down on her table and made her way back to the dresser. For some reason, she found herself staring at her reflection again. She shook her head, and was about to close the light on the dresser when she heard a familiar voice.
“Mai.”
She spun around in surprise, assuming battle stance. But no one was there.
“Mai, I’m over here.”
The Princess blinked, then turned around again to face her mirror. Her reflection was there, but there was another reflection of her there. Except the reflection was standing straight, and her hair was ponytailed, and was wearing different clothes.
“Wha…?”
“Look, Mai,” the other reflection spoke, “I don’t have the luxury of time, so listen carefully. Go to the Ishiyogi Park tonight. There’s a place there I call the Thinking Mound. It’s hard to give you directions, but we can talk privately there. Just go to the park, and use my ki to find me. If you don’t show up tonight, I’ll tell the Stars AND the Roses that we switched. You wouldn’t want that, right?”
Mai blinked, only then realizing who was talking to her. “Kazetenshi Aiko?!”
“Go tonight, or our pretty little secret is out. Go there. ALONE.”
Before Mai could say anything, her other reflection — rather, Aiko’s image — disappeared.
Wow. I didn’t know the Wind Angel was powerful enough to teleport at will…
Meanwhile, in the Kazetenshi residence, Aiko collapsed into a chair as her room seemed to spin around her.
————–
It took her two hours to finally make a decision, but despite the fact that Yuuji was probably going to lecture her again, Mai took her chances and snuck out of the palace. When she arrived at the Thinking Mound, she scanned the area carefully, trying to look for someone’s ki, anyone’s ki, but she got nothing except for the lone youth sitting on the grass several yards away from her.
“I’m alone, Mai. No one else is here.”
Mai’s frown went deeper. “How can I trust you when you sent me such a treacherous message?”
“It was the only way. I knew you would do anything just so I wouldn’t tell anybody that we switched places for a day.”
The Deathrose Princess tensed when the Wind Angel turned in her seat to look at her.
“I have something you might want to see,” she said. “But, you have to know: I will get this back in perfect condition else I will have your head.”
Mai nodded despite her frown. “If it is that important of a commodity.”
“I also need you to promise me one thing before I let you lay your eyes on it.”
“Which is?”
“Keep an open mind and consider the possibilities. I didn’t come here to fight with you, but I did come here to discuss an important matter.”
Again, Mai nodded. Aiko took out a manila envelope, and made it float over her open hand.
“Perfect condition,” she repeated before making the envelope float towards Mai. The Princess caught it, and, throwing one last wary look at the Star, she opened the envelope to find a piece of paper inside. After being momentarily surprised at how old the paper felt, she pulled it out of the envelope and began to read.
“Dearest Hikaru,
If you’re reading this, that means that my daughter is wearing my necklace, and that my power over your mind has faded, and that by now, you’ve remembered everything I’ve made you forget…”
Mai paused, turning her eyes to the other girl.
“What does this have to do with me?”
“Just read on.”
“It’s pretty long.”
“Then sit down so you won’t get tired.”
Mai sighed, then went to sit a few meters away from Aiko as the other girl watched her. She continued reading.
“I know that, by now, you’re probably very confused. I’m sorry… Sometimes I wish I had enough power to permanently erase your memory, but I know you might not want that if you knew the whole truth.
“Do you remember Aiko’s 6th birthday? You had promised me that you’re going to take care of her no matter what happens. I know you were only 7 years old then, but I also know that you are a good child, and that you love your sister very much, so I’m secure that you will take care of her.
“Hikaru, I know that your first encounter with M—”
The Princess suddenly stopped, her eyes widening.
“Just read on,” came Aiko’s voice. Mai nodded, turning her attention back to the paper in her hands.
“…I know that your first encounter with Mai would be very disturbing. I pray that you will be with Aiko when this happens. If not, I don’t know how she’ll handle it. I don’t know exactly how your roads will cross, but I don’t think it will be a friendly one, unless Ran and Youko have had some form of agreement. That seems very far from happening, though. Hikaru, you have to protect Aiko at all costs. However, you must do everything in your power to protect Mai, as well, for she is still your—”
Mai’s throat was suddenly dry as her eyes remained on that next word. Although she had already anticipated it, seeing it in print was an entirely different thing.
“…sister.”
Silence fell. At the back of her mind, Mai appreciated the fact that Aiko didn’t react to her shock. When her brain finished processing that statement, she cleared her throat and continued reading.
“Yes, Hikaru, Mai is Aiko’s twin. Now that I’ve told you who Mai really is, the next logical question to answer is this: How did Mai get separated from us? It happened when she was four.
“We were at the beach that day, but Aiko had a fever, so she was left in the hotel with me. It was then that the Roses attacked. I was able to fight them without leaving Aiko. But when Mai suddenly entered the room, they took her. She was too far away from me, and they snatched her. I know I could have gotten her back, but I couldn’t leave Aiko. I was too afraid that they were going to take her, as well. I can’t lose both my daughters…”
Aiko couldn’t help but feel sorry for Mai as the girl fell silent. She could only imagine what it felt like, reading about your own past that you never knew.
“Mai,” she said when the Princess wordlessly handed the letter back to her, “I know it looks like I’m trying to turn you against Deathrose, and I understand that your loyalty—”
“I already know, Aiko.”
A pause.
“What?”
“I already know that you’re my sister. I figured it out last night.”
Mai reached inside her jacket, pulling out a two pictures, and gave them to Aiko. The Wind Angel turned pale. The pictures Mai had were of Rieka. In one, she was holding Mai, and in the other, she was with Aiko.
“I saw that one in your photo album; the other one is mine. I figured out that you were my sister, and that’s totally logical since that explains why we look entirely the same. The conclusion I reached, though, is obviously different from yours. I thought you were kidnapped and brainwashed by Blue Star. But if that letter is real…”
“It IS real!” Aiko exclaimed, her defenses going up. “It’s real! I found it in our attic with Okaasan’s other—”
“Think about it, Wind Angel.” Mai’s facial expression surprisingly stern. “Let’s just say, for the sake of debate, that Deathrose IS the enemy, the bad guys. What if we just planted it in your house so you would pity me? So we could lure you out here and trust me? What if I was going to make myself your weakness, and use you to finally destroy Blue Star?”
“If that was true, then you wouldn’t be telling me this.”
“What if I told you that just so you would eliminate the possibility that I might be lying?”
Aiko considered it. Mai was right. This could be just some mind game. One huge, confusing, frustrating mind game. Man, she hated secrets.
“On the other hand,” she said, “just for the sake of debate, if Blue Star is the enemy, then you could be the one being lured into a trap, right?”
“So, we can’t trust each other still,” Mai concluded, nodding, “until we both verify the authenticity of this letter.”
“Our being sisters is pretty obvious, I suppose…”
“We just didn’t want to accept it at once, what with us being on opposite sides.”
“The question now is: which side is the side to be on? Blue Star or Deathrose?”
“Precisely. It looks like we have to figure this out ourselves.”
“Right.”
In spite of the gravity of the situation, Aiko couldn’t help but grin. They were starting to talk like twins already.
“Mai…” she said, “I have a question. Disregarding what you know about me, what do you know about Deathrose and Blue Star?”
“Eh? You’re kidding, right?” When Aiko didn’t answer, Mai’s eyebrows furrowed. “What kind of a question is that?”
“A pretty self-explanatory one, if you ask me. I’m just trying to reconcile what I know with what you know so we can straighten this out.”
“Well, what do you want to know?”
“Everything. Like, history, or whatever you know about us. Pretend that I’m just a normal human, and I know nothing about Blue Star and Deathrose.”
“History…” Mai echoed. “Where should I start?”
“The beginning would be nice. Up to the present if you can.”
For a moment, Mai was thoughtful. Then, finally, she took a deep breath, and began.
“My family was a clan of the Elementals.”
“What are Elementals?” Aiko asked with a grin. “Remember: I know nothing.”
“Oh… Right.” Mai bit her lip, reorganizing her thoughts. “OK. Let me try again.”
“Please do.”
“Every human has a ki, or his life source. Embedded in every ki is something called the Seed, which is the power over the Elements. This means everyone technically has a potential to control an Element, but they rarely know about it. A person can’t tap his Seed unless he dies, or if an Elemental trains him to tap it. Some have more potential than others that they can tap it by themselves. Some have so little potential, it’s almost negligible.
“One who has the character and capability to handle the Elements is what we call a potential, and he is given a chance to join the Elementals. If he wishes not to, he is stripped of the power of the Element. If a person is stripped of his Seed, then he goes to his final destination after he dies. The Elementals are those who have mastered their Elements, like us.
“Our clan produces the most powerful Elementals. My great-great-great-great-great-grandfather — or at least I think he was that… I can’t remember how many ‘great’s there are supposed to be — is one of the most powerful. His name was Zai. He thought that it was better to strip everyone of their potential powers altogether to prevent the possibility of the abuse. This led to a series of arguments and debate that caused the Elementals to split into two factions: Blue Star and Deathrose. They weren’t really enemies, but they certainly don’t agree.
“Blue Star is the faction that say that people should be given the choice whether or not to be an Elemental. They monitor the people. If someone shows potential to be an Elemental, they take him in and train him. Deathrose, on the other hand, followed Zai’s ideology. They want death to the Seed.”
Mai paused, looking at Aiko before continuing. “I have to warn you: the next part is probably the one where you’ll have the most objections. I request you to hear me out, for I will listen to you when you get your chance to defend your side.”
“Agreed.”
“There were some instances when Blue Star did more than monitor. Sometimes, they do more than strip a person’s Seed. Sometimes, they strip the life force of the person when the Stars can’t keep them under Blue Star. That is what had happened with my parents.
“Inter-marriage between Stars and Roses was preposterous, but one of an Elemental and a potential was more welcome, even if the potential was an offspring of someone from the other faction, as in the case of my father. My father was an offspring of Deathrose, but his Seed was negligible. My mother, on the other hand, was actually a Star. Despite that, all was well. That is, until my mother decided to quit being a Star.
“There was this man, a powerful Star, that was my mother’s friend. From the very beginning, he was against inter-marriages zealously, even those between a potential and an Elemental. When my mother decided to be stripped of her Seed, he went so mad that he had her killed. Not only that, he had even my father killed, as well.
“This was the last straw for the Roses. A full-scale war erupted against the two factions. Even though my clan was originally the most powerful, Blue Star had the best strategists. They weren’t able to eliminate all the Roses, but they WERE able to cripple us. Every single member of my family was wiped out. Except for me. Youko-san hid me, fearing that the Stars might try to look for me and kill me. Even though I was half-Star, the Roses took care of me and trained me to tap my Seed. Deathrose, despite the pretty sadistic name, is my family now…”
A few moments passed, but Aiko was still silent. True, she had initiated this talk with Mai. But now that she knew about Mai’s past (if it IS her past), she didn’t know what to say. If what Mai just narrated was true, then how come Aiko wasn’t mentioned? How come Hikaru wasn’t in it? If it was true, then who was Kazetenshi Ken’ichi, the father that Aiko knew?
“It’s your turn,” Mai said, snapping her out of her reverie.
Aiko sighed. “As you said, we monitor potentials. But that’s not our main mission. Our main mission is to protect people from collection.” Mai’s jaw visibly clenched, but Aiko chose not to fuss about it. “I don’t know why Roses collect. All I know is that I don’t want to see people getting killed for apparently no reason. Kaji — you know Kaji, right?”
“The maroon-haired guy whose picture you keep in your closet door?”
“It isn’t his picture, there’s four of us there!”
“OK, OK! No need to get so defensive…” Mai said, amused with Aiko’s crimson cheeks. Aiko cleared her throat before continuing.
“Yes, that’s him. He told me once that it’s all in a matter of belief, that we all have reasons for the things we do. I joined Blue Star initially because it gave me a chance to be with my family again after–… after minors caused a car accident leading to my death. But when I saw the Roses try to kill Kamui, I realized that my view about being a Star had changed. Now, I want to protect the people from the minors. I know how it feels to lose someone; I don’t want anybody else experiencing it. So I guess that’s it. All I have is faith. And, as long as what I’m doing isn’t destructive to anyone, then I’ll keep doing what I do.”
“A Rose attacked Kamui?”
“Yes, he became a Star right after. Why?”
“Nothing,” Mai answered quickly. “It’s strange, hearing that one of your friends actually tried to kill someone…”
“I know,” Aiko said. “It’s weird seeing the Roses as they were when we switched. I was so used to seeing them trying to ki– I mean, attack us…”
“I suppose there is no way of sugar-coating it, is there? Attack, kill… Same banana.”
“Say, Mai… There’s something that’s been bothering for a while now… Why do Roses collect?”
Again, the Princess tensed. “To tell you the truth, collection is putting death to the Seed. At least, that’s what it’s supposed to be.”
“You mean—”
“I never saw what collection really is until that night we switched.”
Again, silence fell.
“I guess, to be fair, I should read the rest of that, right?” Mai said. Aiko nodded, then handed the letter back to the Princess. Again, Mai started to read out loud, picking up where she left off.
“Ran — I assume you already know Ran-sama — and the other Stars tried to defeat the Roses to get her back. But they couldn’t defeat all of them. It was too dangerous to barge into the Deathrose palace to get her, because they might do something to her. Then, I came to realize that Mai isn’t the only one in danger. You and Aiko were both in danger, as well. So, after much thought, I figured it was best to disconnect you from the Elementals.
“We had your memories erased. Yours, Aiko’s, Kamui’s and Sara’s. You were only children, and I couldn’t bear the fact that a root of bitterness — bitterness against Deathrose for taking your sister away — will be planted in your hearts so early in your life. Bitterness is a prison a person puts around himself, Hikaru. Don’t be bitter. Don’t imprison yourself.
“If you notice, all our pictures have only one of your sisters in them. We kept only the ones with Aiko in them; I hid all the pictures we had of Mai. You know where they are, maybe you just haven’t remembered it yet. But don’t try too hard to remember; you might strain your brain. And I don’t mean that as a joke. Look them over with your sisters when all is well. Always take care of your sisters, Hikaru…
“I love you, my son. Remember that. Remember that you will never be alone, as I am always with you.
“Mom”
The two girls were silent as Mai looked over the letter again. She sighed, then carefully put the piece of paper back inside the envelope.
“That man…” Aiko said after a while, “that man that had your mother killed. What was his name?”
“Do you really want to know?”
“I’ll know sooner or later, anyways.” But, honestly, Aiko was scared. The sad, sympathetic way her mirror image was looking at her didn’t help, either. In fact, it frightened her even more.
“His name…” Mai finally said, “was Ran.”
————–
Next on Blue Star
As Mai starts her investigation, Kaji asks his own questions, Sara dreams dreams, Kamui finally makes a long-overdue decision, and Aiko gets a chance to meet with an old acquaintance. Most times, to do what you must, you have to venture into the unknown.
“Oei! Aiko has an announcement to make!”
Episode 22: Confusion
————–
From the Author
Oh my goodness. I can’t believe I actually finished that! Yup, this is the ever-lovable Explanation Episode. Or one of them, at least. After looking this over and editing it a gazillion times, I finally decided that this episode is ready for the readers’ criticism. Waaa…give comments on Mai’s explanation about the history of Blue Star and Deathrose, ok? Email me for loopholes and questions. I understand that some aspects of the history aren’t consistent with what we know so far about the Stars and the Roses, but remember that we don’t know what the truth really is yet.
I realized that maybe it’s slightly confusing if Mai was talking or reading the letter. I didn’t italicize the letter-reading parts because my eyes hurt when I read long, italicized paragraphs. I don’t want the same thing to happen to you guys. But if you think I should italicize that part, please include it in your review.
Clarification: Aiko collapsed into the chair out of exhaustion. Remember that teleportation takes a lot of energy. Although Aiko didn’t physically teleport, she did it mentally. But she was still exhausted. It took two hours for Mai to leave the palace, right? Add the time it took for her to get to the Thinking Mound, and you get the time it took for Aiko to pull herself together.
On a happier note: Bwahaha! Go, Aiko! Korose! Hehe. I hate cockroaches, too, so… yeah.
References to earlier episodes:
Episode 14: Fever — Kaji ‘decoding’ the picture in the Toriyama residence . This was the picture taken the day the Roses took Mai (according to the letter Aiko found).
Episode 10: Rain — Kamui getting attacked by Haruna and Kaori
Episode 11: Trust — Kamui’s fall
Episode 8: Pointless — Kaji talks with Aiko about having faith in Ran.
More notes
Maggyd: I hope this episode didn’t disappoint you, since you wanted more development on the “sisters” idea. But, then again, practically nothing is resolved in this episode, anyway. About your comment about Deathrose not being “ruthless, cruel people out for blood”, I’m so glad you feel that way Yeah, I just had say that.
Bentfender: I somehow expected you were going to comment on Kaji’s absence… I wanted to insert him somewhere in there, but, oh well. Glad you still liked it. About Kamui not noticing, you’re right. For a second, he somehow thought that ‘Aiko’ seemed different, but he didn’t get to think about it because Sara arrived. Besides, I think he’ll be the last one to actually be suspicious of ‘Aiko’ because she is his best friend… Uh…yeah. I’m not going to expound on that because I might give something away XD
