The two girls looked around the pool, or rather, what was left of it.

This was bad… really, really bad.

As much fun as Rashida had while battling the Leviathan, the reality of the situation suddenly hit her really hard. The pool… her pool… What would even happen to future swimming tournaments? And she didn’t get to win today due to everything that happened… heck, nobody was the winner today, and that was way, way more frustrating than losing fairly.

Karin noticed the sad look on the mermaid’s face. “Truly tragic, huh? I hope they’ll be able to rebuild this place…”

“Yeah…” Rashida responded with a sigh. “Hopefully next time, I can finally try to win.”

“Oh? Were you one of the participants?” Karin asked with a curious look on her face. She still did not realize who she was talking to.

“Yeah. Not in this form though, that would be rather unfair!” Rashida quickly added. “You see, I am actually a human… Thought I suddenly got the power to transform into a mermaid. I have no idea why.”

“Huh, that’s interesting, the same thing happened to me. Look.” Karin tapped on her gem three times and turned back into her human form.

Rashida’s mouth fell open at the sight of her friend suddenly reappearing. “F… Freckles?!”

So it was Rashida’s very own best friend who had been ridding the city of monsters…!

Karin’s face promptly got a surprised look on it as well. “Wait… how do you—”

Rashida, who had been paying attention, tapped on her gem as well, returning back to her human form.

Karin let out a high-pitched squeak. “W-what!? So it was you—”

“So we’re both—” Rashida’s surprised face turned into a big smile. “Karin! We’re gonna save the world! Together! How awesome is that!” She ran towards her friend, giving her a big hug. “If only I had known that you had been our local magical hero…”

“Y-yeah…” Karin stammered. “And if only I had known that I had been fighting alongside my best friend this time all along…!”

“This will be our little secret, promise?” Rashida made a zipper gesture over her mouth with her fingers.

“Well, sort of,” Karin responded. “There are apparently four other girls we have to find to help with our task, according to Papiyon over here.” She pointed at the pink butterfly, who had come flying towards Karin.

“Pleased to meet you,” Papiyon said politely. “I am Karin’s guardian spirit.”

“A talking butterfly! As if today couldn’t get any crazier…” Rashida remembered the voice she had heard while underwater. “Say, um, French butterfly,” — Karin quietly giggled in her hand — “I heard a voice earlier while I was in the water… It was giving me instructions on what I had to do and stuff. Do you perhaps know more about that?”

“That was probably your very own guardian spirit,” Papiyon responded. “The problem is, however, that your guardian spirit is rather large, so you can only meet her when you get to the sea.”

“Wow…” Rashida didn’t know what else to say for a moment. “So, I have to go to the sea some day then?” she added after a while.

“That is correct, if you want to meet her in person at least,” Papiyon answered. “I have the luck that I can take on this tiny form, in order to appear more normal to humans. But I don’t think you’ve ever seen a tiny whale, now have you?”

Rashida tried to imagine a mini-whale about the size of a goldfish and had to giggle at the thought. “Haha, no, I don’t think so.”

A whale… a guardian whale! Maybe she could convince her parents to book a holiday to the sea.

“Despite those restrictions, however,” Papiyon continued, “you’ll still be able to communicate with your guardian telepathically. All of us can communicate long-distance with any creature that we reign over.”

A lot of this was new information for Karin as well, who had been closely listening.

“Excuse me, can I interrupt for a moment?” She motioned her hand at Papiyon. “Come here, you.”

Papiyon landed on Karin’s shoulder. “Yes?”

“You’ve implied that this isn’t your real form… I have to admit I’m rather curious now,” Karin admitted. “I know you can’t exactly show it right here… but I’d absolutely love to see it one day.”

“Yes, that was all true. It’s also true that Papiyon isn’t my real name. Did you really think we use regular Earthly words as names back in our homeworld?” she responded while looking at Karin’s surprised face.

“Then… why didn’t you tell me your real one right away? What is your real name, then?” Karin got more and more curious with every moment.

“To give you a sense of familiarity with me,” Papiyon responded. “I will tell you my real name once I tell you more about our homeworld. And yes, I will show you my real appearance then as well. For now, however, please have this.” Papiyon flew up from Karin’s shoulder and chanted the words: “Latsiya ornasha, atsunyas!”

A bright flash appeared in the air, which soon dissolved into a pair of very thick, levitating books — one pink and gold, the other blue and silver. Both were richly decorated.

“They’re for you and your friend over there,” Papiyon clarified. “I think it’s pretty clear which one is for whom.”

“Wow…” Karin grabbed the pink book and examined it. “What exactly is in this?”

“It’s a spell book, and also a bit of a dictionary,” Papiyon explained. “It doesn’t contain every word known in our world, since that would take a lot of time to research, but it contains the most basic ones necessary for you both. Hey you, get over here!” Papiyon yelled at Rashida in the distance, who hadn’t been paying attention and was visibly startled as a result.

“O-oh! What is it?” she yelled back as she quickly scooted towards her friend and the butterfly.

“This book right here is yours,” Karin explained as she pointed at the levitating blue tome. “It’s a spell book and dictionary. Honestly, it would’ve been useful to have this a bit earlier,” Karin said as she glared sternly at Papiyon.

“I was still doing research!” Papiyon explained. “I might be speaking to you two in your own language, but studying it in-depth took me a while. The script of your people is also rather hard to understand. Trust me, I was getting tired of explaining everything too.”

Rashida giggled. “Now now, don’t be too harsh on French fry over here, I bet she tried her best. And look at how pretty it is!” Rashida grabbed the book out of the air and examined the cover. “Too bad I can’t read what’s on the front yet.”

“You will both find out in due time,” Papiyon responded. “Make sure to study at least a bit of it each day. I know it’s difficult combined with homework, but it’s necessary in order to save both worlds.”

“Understood, we’ll try our best,” Karin said as she and Rashida nodded in unison.

“Now, there’s only one thing left to do.” Papiyon closed her eyes and proceeded to concentrate deeply. “Guardian Spirits of the World… Can you hear me?”

A chorus of ethereal voices rang through the air. They all responded in the familiar, otherworldly language.

“I am currently in a ravaged building which needs to be restored to its former glory. Let’s restore the balance of order and chaos.”

The chorus of voices reappeared, this time with Papiyon joining in, and chanted:

“Latsiya uskala, goshnuras!”

All of a sudden, the ravaged pool seemed to move back together in one piece, exactly the way it was before.

Rashida looked around in awe as the beloved local contest pool returned to its former glory. A faint “T-thank you…” was all she could utter at that moment.

“You’re welcome, my child,” the by-now familiar ethereal voice rang through her head. Rashida smiled in bliss.

“I think it’s better that we go home now,” Karin said, “or at the very least check up on how everyone else is doing right now.” Karin quickly hid her large book in her bag, and Rashida proceeded to do the same.

“You’re right,” Rashida responded sternly. “I wonder how my parents are doing…”

“Yeah… and my little brother…” Karin got a worried look on her face as she grabbed Rashida’s hand. “Let’s go.”

🌸🌸🌸

As the two girls arrived outside, they noticed a large crowd had gathered around the building. Even firefighters had come — Karin and Rashida had been so busy fighting the Leviathan that they hadn’t heard any sirens.

And reporters. Those were there too.

Oh great, Karin thought.

“Karin! You’re alright!” Ann ran towards her daughter and gave her a big hug. “But why on earth did you remain in the building? It was very dangerous!” Her relieved voice had turned stern.

“I know, mom… and I’m sorry,” Karin replied apologetically. “I guess my curiosity got the best of me. Thankfully I was not alone, though.” Karin pointed at Rashida, who was apologizing to her parents.

“Mom, dad… I am so, so sorry for not having gone outside! I know I could’ve died, or hurt, or—”

Meredith, however, was surprisingly calm. “Hun, it’s alright. Something told me you’d be able to save yourself in the end.”

Rashida looked at Adrian, who didn’t seem overly worried either.

“Your mom’s right,” he added. “Call it a parent’s instinct, if you will.”

“So you aren’t mad?” Rashida was very surprised. She had gotten in trouble before, but the calmness of her parents’ reaction right now was almost eerie.

“Not at all, sweetheart,” Meredith responded kindly. “Although I do feel bad about the competition… I hope they’ll move it to a different date.”

“Yeah… I hope so too…” Though Rashida had to admit in her head that fighting the Leviathan had been more thrilling than expected.

“Let’s go home, you must be really tired by now, sweetheart” Adrian said.

“And if I am!” Rashida stretched out and yawned as the family walked to the car.

🌸🌸🌸

“Do you have anything to say, miss? Why did you decide to stay inside the building? Do you have any sto—”

“Leave me alone.” Karin shoved her hand against the reporter’s camera as she and her family walked towards their own car.

“My sister is weird, she believes the fairies are real!” Tim was a lot more enthusiastic towards the reporter.

“Tim, get your butt in the car!” Karin hissed as she pulled his collar.

She had become cranky and tired now that she was no longer with Rashida and the rush from battling had worn off. All she wanted was to go home.

“Tim, honey, please stop annoying your sister and get in the car,” Karin’s father Jack said sternly from the driver’s seat.

Tim disappointedly dragged himself inside the car. “Yes dad…”

The siblings sat down in the back seats. Karin could feel her eyes get heavy…

🌸🌸🌸

It was late at night, and Karin was lying down in her down in her bed. To even her own surprise, she was awake. Because despite her tiredness, there was still one thing she was curious about — the spell book.

Obviously, she was way too tired to study a lot that night, but at the very least she wanted to decipher what was on the front cover of the book.

Karin grabbed the book out of her bag, which was lying next to her bed. She put on her night light and opened the book.

The very first page contained a list of foreign symbols with their transliterations next to them. Perfect.

She compared the symbols letter by letter with the word on the cover. Softly, she whispered the word out loud to herself:

“Alomiriya.”