PQ Angels - Chapter 3 As appeared in Nakayoshi, November 1997. Written by Takeuchi Naoko. Translated by Alex Glover. Version 1.01, 11.97. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Hermit Actor Play!!" shout the two magicians. Water rises into the sky around them. "That illusion again!?" says Peanut. "I'm getting hungry, so I'm really pissed!" She holds out her bubble gun. "Autumn eggplants are not eaten by ladies!" She shoots eggplants into their mouths. "Mushroom scent!" She shoots mushrooms at them. "Flavor attack!" The two magicians are destroyed in a burst of smoke. "What?" says Peanut. "Already? Maybe the mushrooms were bad..." "P..." says Kyuuri. "What about my attack?" "I'm sorry, Q-ko-chan!" she says. "Oh no! More importantly, dinner! The supermarket!" "It'll close!" says Kyuuri. "Hurry, hurry!" Ouji steps out of his house. "Okay, I'm going," he says. "Have to make a living." "What, Ouji?" says Ouga. "You have cram school today?" "Yep." He holds up the heart-shaped pendant. "As long as I don't forget (though I had forgotten), I'll hurry and get to the mailbox. Since those two are so loud..." He looks up into the sky, and sees the two girls floating. His mouth drops open. "Does he see us...?" says Kyuuri. "Looks like," says Peanut. "We're in danger!" says Kyuuri. "What will we do!?" "Article One of the Three Fuiren Principles!" says Peanut. "Do not injure a human!" says Kyuuri. "And so, to the supermarket! Let's go! We'll think about this plenty later." Peanut looks down at Ouji. "Oh! My ID badge!" She floats down to him and takes it. "You brought it for me! Thank you, Hagemashi!" She floats back up. A light glows around her and Kyuuri. "See you later, Hagemashi!" "Navel-baring, flying aliens," he thinks. "Disappearing into the full moon of night. This is too much." The two girls change into insects. "Why do they look like the rabbit of the moon from behind?" thinks Ouji. "Having that touch my mouth is disgusting. Makes me remember those repulsive vermin." --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "We're lucky there was a supermarket open late," says Peanut, as the two girls leave the store. "That was a convenience mart," says Kyuuri. "I wanted to go to a supermarket that sells mushrooms." They return to their house. "All right, Peanut," says Kyuuri. "Let's go." "Roger!" They both hold out their wrist bracelets, and open a portal. They go through the portal, and appear before General Paichuu. "You're late!" he says. "What were you doing! You're 4.889 X 10^33 hours late! That's forty demerits!!" The two girls kneel. "I apologize," says Kyuuri. "Jeez, forty..." she thinks. "I kinda lost my ID badge and couldn't come," says Peanut. "What!?" "Oh, but, but, I got it right back!" "Oh no," says Paichuu. "Your true identities were not uncovered, right!" "Of course not! Nobody found out!" "Except Hagemashi..." she thinks. "P-sama, Q-sama," says Honey. "It is good that you're safe. Are you tired? I have some bamboo tea." "Honey! It's been so long! You came!" "Report!" says Paichuu. "According to plan," says Kyuuri, "we have been successful in infiltrating 1999 Tokyo. We have started our lives as humans safe and sound. However, we have been followed. Perhaps they are in league with those who abducted Her Royal Highness the Queen?" "Do not jump to conclusions," says Paichuu. "It has not yet been determined that she was abducted." "We would like to be told the identities of those who attacked us," says Kyuuri. "Yes," says Paichuu. "It is likely the mysterious group inhabiting the Radical Zone. The Kunoichi Bank, commanded by Pyrethrum." "Pyrethrum," says Kyuuri. "Kunoichi... I thought they were just rumors..." "So, so, they're the ones who abducted the Queen!?" says Peanut. "Do not jump to conclusions! Listen to me!" Paichuu says. "Their aim may be what Her Royal Highness carries, the Giraffe Stone. The precious gem, the Giraffe Stone! It is a legendary treasure, and it is said that whoever possesses it will control the world. Indeed, besides Her Royal Highness, nobody knows the whereabouts of the Fuiren nation's holy treasure. Perhaps it was already stolen, to spy on us... On Her Royal Highness, and you two..." "What!?" "No, no, we can't jump to conclusions!" he says. "Your mission is to bring Her Royal Highness to safety immediately and protect her! Here is your next command in the name of the Orc Halberd Oniwaban. Eliminate the minions, and find Her Royal Highness! Now go!" Honey holds out a glass cylinder. "Here you go," she says. "An Anko-type queen sensor. When it senses the Queen, it becomes thicker. When it senses enemies, it becomes thinner." The two girls transport back. "May you have good luck!" Honey says. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The sun shines in the sky. The two girls leave the house in their school uniforms. "So he said," says Kyuuri. "But where should we start looking? We don't have any clues. I wonder if Her Majesty is in this Tokyo at all." "Hey, Kyuuko-chan," says Peanut. "I smell something nice and sweet! What is it?" Kyuuri looks at a row of plants along the sidewalk. "Fragrant olives," she says. "What do they taste like?? How do you eat them??" "They're flowers," says Kyuuri. "By the way, in flower language, they mean humility. Piiko, I'm talking about something important here." "Come on, Kyuuko-chan," says Peanut as they approach the school. "Today is the Koganemushi festival. Let's search with our sensor starting at our school!" "Hmph," says Kyuuri, looking around. "There's no reason for the Queen to be at a junior high school." "P-ko-chan! Q-ko-chan!" calls a girl. "Hurry and change! The athletics event is starting!" They go to the girls' locker room. "Is today just the athletics event?" says Kyuuri. "Yes, since tomorrow's the cultural..." Peanut takes her shirt off. The other girls scream. "Oh no! Piiko-chan!" "There's a bug on your arm!" "Oh, this?" says Peanut. "This is our Fuiren symbol..." Kyuuri puts her hand over Peanut's mouth, removing her shirt as well. "Oh, these?" she says. "These are tattoos we got in Hawaii. Aren't they great!?" The girls in the room stand poised to strike their arms. "What? So they're tattoos?" says one girl. "They startled me," says another girl. "I was about to hit your arm, Piiko-chan." "Now that I look at them, they're cute! I want one!" "Me too! Me too!" "P-ko," says Kyuuri. "Yes?" "I ask that you not chatter on. Behave yourself." "All right..." Another girl enters the room. "Are the class 2 girls here? Want to write something on the signboards by the cheer seats?" "Signboards?" "The rooters for today's athletics event are putting up signboards, and doing a costume play." Peanut draws a big picture of her head on one of the boards. "Wow, Piiko-chan, that's great!" "You could be a manga artist!" Peanut giggles. "I love manga!" "Really!? What kind do you like?" "Hmm..." she says. "I like manga with princes. My dream is to have a romantic love with a sweet, wonderful prince, just like in a manga." "A prince, eh?" thinks Kyuuri. "This is the first time I've heard she was interested in that." --------------------------------------------------------------------------- A crowd gathers watching a cloaked figure sitting behind a crystal ball. "What are all those people doing in front of class 2?" a boy asks. "Torikabuto Cecile has put up a fortunetelling stand," says another boy. ["Torikabuto" means "aconite", which is a poisonous drug made from a plant of the same name.] "Is that Torikabuto the model? I'm a big fan of hers! She's so cute in all those cup ramen commercials! But she looks a little different..." "I see it, I see it," says the cloaked figure. "The liquid of darkness coalescing... Now, you..." Cecile looks up. "You're having bad luck with soy sauce." The boy walks away from the fortunetelling booth. "Soy sauce, soy sauce..." he thinks. A girl runs into him, dumping a bowl onto him. "Oh no!" the girl says. "I spilled the red-bean soup that took so long to make!" "Wow!" says another boy. "She was right! Tell mine too!" "So Cecile's doing it again this year?" says a girl. "Since she's into the occult. Speaking of which, Kuria..." "What, Sunia?" says another girl. "That Piiko-chan is cute!" "A prince is her ideal..." says Kuria. "Wow! Nowadays, only somebody from another planet would say that. (Could she be the princess of the moon? Nah...)" "Could her prince be Hagemashi? They are neighbors, after all." "Those three are close." A voice sounds over the speakers. "The opening ceremonies of the athletics event will now begin on the grounds." Cecile watches Kuria and Sunia run off. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Wow!" says Peanut. "I love these kind of festivals!" "Peanut." "Huh!?" She turns around. "Hagemashi!" "And Kyuuri, wasn't it? Your other names." "Hold on, Hagemashi," says Kyuuri. "There's something we have to talk about. About last night." She scratches her head. "I ask that you tell nobody, and keep this absolutely secret. Y- You never saw a thing." He scratches his head. "If you guarantee my life and the life of Earth," he says, "I'll promise." "Come on, Hagemashi!" says Peanut. "We're not going to do anything to you or Earth. Right, Kyuuko-chan?" "Th- This guy..." Kyuuri thinks. "We want to befriend the humans, or rather, 'everyone'!" says Peanut. "And we want to befriend you, Hagemashi." "Hehe," Peanut thinks. "He finally talked to us!" "'Befriend,'" thinks Ouji. "Does that mean, 'invade'? Is that where the guarantee of life comes in?" "I think you should be careful of humans," Ouji says. "Especially the government, scientists, and MIBs." "MIBs??" "Researchers of UFOs who may suddenly appear before those who possess information. When they are afraid someone has witnessed them, they eliminate that person. The mysterious group, the Men in Black. MIB for short." "They have such terrible special forces?" thinks Kyuuri. "We'll have to be careful." "Your conversation sounds interesting!" says Cecile. "I love talking about these kinds of things!" "Cecile, what are you doing!" calls another girl. "The bread-eating race is starting!" "They're coming, they're coming! There's something on my supernatural world antenna! Rakkasei Piiko, Nigauri Kyuuko. Why are they always having suspicious conversations with Hagemashi? Something must be going on!" The announcer sounds over the loudspeaker. "Next is the boys' main event, the pole topple! First is the seventh grade boys!" "Pole topple?" says Peanut. "The first class to topple that pole is the winner," says a girl. The boys crowd around the pole, pushing and shoving on it. "Since it's dangerous, it's only a boys' event." "That looks fun!" says Peanut. "If we win this and the last event, the obstacle relay," the girl says, "we'll be first place in the eighth grade classes! We'll be able to have a wonderful launch!" "A launch?" "A big gathering at night, full of drinking and singing and eating!" "Next is the eighth grade boys," says the announcer. "If that's what we get, leave this to me!" Peanut says. She jumps at the pole. "Piiko!?" says Kyuuri. She strikes the middle of the tall pole, pushing on it as it falls down. "It's toppled!" says the announcer. "A girl has appeared with superhuman strength! Since she's so pretty, this has become open to anyone! Class 2 wins the event!" "Piiko, I told you to behave yourself!" Kyuuri thinks. "No way!" says one of the girls. "Piiko, that was amazing!" Two women with long, dark hair, wearing swimsuits, look on at the competition. "Watch the games!" says one. "Along with a beer!" says the other, holding out a mug. "Baigon!" [?] "Demilin!" [?] "We're the Grand Pyrethrum Beer campaign girls of the fall of '99! For short, the camgal sisters!" "Did you see? Did you see? I thought I felt some strange electromagnetic waves. That jumping ability! That extraordinary strength! It must be Fuiren power!" "And now the final event will begin," says the announcer. "The obstacle relay." Peanut starts running. "Once this is over, it's the launch!" Peanut dashes over the obstacles ahead of the others. "Oh!" says the announcer. "All of a sudden, it's class 2-2! She has the speed of a cockroach!" "Follow her!" says one of the camgals. "Move it! Move it!" says the other. They shove the other runners out of the way as they chase Peanut. "Hmm," says Peanut. "Wait a minute!" says one of the girls watching. "What class are those camgal costume players from!? They're horrible!" "Out of my way!" "Out of the way! Out of the way!" Kyuuri holds out the sensor. "Impostors! Impostors!" it buzzes. "They're Kunoichi," she says. Peanut sighs. "Kunoichi..." "But if we transform here in public..." says Kyuuri. "We won't be able to fight!" says Peanut. She leaps from a vault, and kisses her bracelet. Kyuuri kisses her bracelet, and they both change to insects. The girls turn around. "Kyuuko-chan... Huh?" "What?" "Huh?" The two camgals spot the flying insects. "Those Fuiren!?" "Head for the forest over that back net!" says Kyuuri. "Roger!" says Peanut. They land on the lips of two boys sitting down, and change back to human form. "Oops," says Peanut. "He passed out." "Whoops," says Kyuuri, her arms around the other boy. "Do forgive me." They run to the forest behind the fence. "That's...!!" thinks Ouji. The two girls join hands. "Mimetic Mode!! Clothes change! La cucaracha!" The sisters charge through the bushes and stop abruptly. "Welcome!" says Peanut, wearing a waitress uniform. "Camgals," says Kyuuri, wearing a kimono and carrying a tray of teacups. "Kunoichi, party of two. This way please." "Damn!" "Warning Color Mode! Fuiren Aura! Metamorphose!!" "Hurry, let's go!" says Peanut, raising her bubble gun. "Fresh sardines! Pike spray!" Fish fly at the camgals. "P, that's low," says Kyuuri. "For your final drink, chrysanthemum sake!" Wine splashes on the camgals, eliminating them. The two girls collapse dazedly, hiccuping. "Lovely meal..." says Peanut. She leaps up and grabs Kyuuri. "Hurry, we have to get back!" "Oh!" Ouji stands on the pathway before them. "Hagemashi!?" "Don't go back," he says. "But we're in the middle of the relay!" says Peanut. "Did you just order us?" says Kyuuri. "The relay's over. It was called." "What!?" says Peanut. "What did you expect?" says Ouji. "Two of the members disappeared. Our class is all in an uproar searching for you two! Go to the nurse's office. You weren't feeling well, so you went to the nurse's office." "What about the launch!?" "I'll go get you for it later. You're aliens, make up an alibi or something." "Hey, Hagemashi," says Peanut. "I've been planning to tell you this. We're not aliens." "Then, what are you?" "We're Fuiren!" She hiccups. "Fuiren?" says Ouji. "Where's that country? You two smell of sake..." Kyuuri grabs Peanut and runs off. "Well, Hagemashi, see you later!" "Jeez, why do these things happen to me..." As he walks back, he sees four boys talking. "I saw you two!" says one. "Making out with those two seventh grade transfer students by the back net!" "We were not! This cockroach came flying and landed on my mouth!" "When I noticed it, I was pushed to the ground. After that, my memory's..." "Sounds like an episode I've heard somewhere before..." thinks Ouji. "Maybe this year there's an outbreak of cockroaches." - "Hagemashi is so nice! *hic*" says Peanut. "A nice guy wouldn't use our true names and order us around!" says Kyuuri. "*hic*" --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Original manga copyright © 1997 Takeuchi Naoko. English translation copyright © 1997 Alex Glover. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Manga of Takeuchi Naoko | PQ Angels