EE Chapter 9

# Chapter Nine - "Magic Water"

### Rinko

    As I ran up the steps leading to the temple, ducking and weaving around the other tourists, I quickly found myself far ahead of the rest of my friends. Nothing I could do about that now. I pushed ahead past the shops and food vendors on both sides of the street until I reached the top of the slope. Finding a place to stand off to the side, everyone else sure took their time in joining me, probably peering in the windows at souvenirs as they walked. Finally they came up to my level and I grabbed the first two I could reach, dragging Chiyo and Kanon by the wrist to hurry them up.

    "Come on! What if they run out?! We've gotta go make our wishes before other people use them all up!"

    "C-Can that happen?!"

    "I don't think it works that-" I cut off Kanon's negativity.

    "Nobody knows how wishes work, that's why they're magic! So nobody can say for certain that they *won't* run out if we take too long. I'm not gonna take that chance!“

    "Rinko!“

    Someone yelled my name from a few yards behind us. I didn't bother turning. I was on a mission, and had to lead by example. And that example was going to be drinking as much magic water as I could possibly manage.

    "Junko! Hurry up! We're running late!"

    "Wait up! Why are you-" They turned the tables on me, each of the young girls holding me back by one arm while my best friend grabbed me by the collar. To onlookers, I probably looked like a dog straining against her leash. "Rinko, why are you in such a hurry? You're going to fall off the stage when you get there if you're this reckless."

    "That's supposed to be good luck too! They say it makes your wish come true one-hundred percent!"

    "Don't you dare even think about it. Now let go of the little idols." I shook my head in defiance, holding onto the two girls' wrists more tightly, but Kanon slipped free somehow anyway and started trying to help her best friend. Junko grabbed my now free hand, gripping it tightly. "You can hold me hostage instead, ok? Just slow down a little bit."

    "Deal! But you have to keep up with me. It's important!"

    "Let's split the difference. We didn't come all the way here to not see anything."

    "Yeah! Who knows when we'll ever be someplace like this again? We're supposed to be relaxing too, and I promised Momo we'd see the statues while we're here."

    "But… but…" How could they not see how important this is? Even if all of our reviews so far had been good, there was still so much left to do! We had to prepare for our next performances, learn new songs, and there are still almost a dozen girls on my list that we need to talk to about the group. If there's even the smallest chance of this helping us be successful, I have to see it through, and the sooner the better.

    "The falls are in the back of the temple, Hanarin. Why don't we split up and take a nice, pleasant walk around so we get some exercise, and then we can all drink together when we get there?" The rest of our group caught up with us - thanks to Junko's sudden and unexpected betrayal - and worse, they all seemed to be on her side.

    Hmph!

    Junko held onto my hand tightly. She probably wasn't going to let it, or me, go, and the rest of our group was already watching from a few meters away, safely out of grabbing range, so I probably wasn't going to win.

    "I guess that sounds pretty reasonable…" Fiiine. We'll do it their way…

    "Ok, let's take a look around. Everyone meet at the waterfall in an hour! Don't you dare be late! If anyone's late, they have to sleep in the garden tonight!"

    "I can't believe we're late. I don't wanna sleep in the garden!"

    "Rinko, it's fine. It's only a few minutes, and none of us believed your threat anyway. See? They're all here and they're all waiting just like you asked them to."

    Junko was right. Nobody looked angry or upset. Eimi looked kind of bored playing on her phone, but she was pretty much the worst. Once we merged into one big group, it was finally time to do what we had come all this way for.

    "Ok, Interlunium! You all know why we're here today, right?"

    "Yeah! Cuz Megumi's parents are awesome and let us use their inn for free!" Chiyo chirped excitedly. And I guess she wasn't actually wrong, because everyone gave another round of thanks to Megumi. Dam-Bi even applauded a little.

    "Thank you all, but I think Ms. Hanazawa may have meant, more specifically, why we're here at the Otawa waterfall right this moment. Isn't that correct, Ms. Hanazawa?"

    "Megumi's right! We're here at the waterfall for one reason! We're going to wish for-"

    "Love!“

    Everyone turned and looked at our youngest member, who had blurted the single word out uncharacteristically loudly. She then pulled her hat down as far as it would go, covering her eyes and shrinking back a couple steps toward the wall we were gathered near. A few of us giggled, but not me, because I was focused entirely on…

    "Success! We need to do everything we can for Interlunium to be successful! So if we all wish for that, that's seven times the chances!"

    "Or seven times the success! Or eight, if hamsters get wishes too!"

    "Pfft." My blondest friend razzed her lips. "I've already gotten all the success I need. I'm not wasting a stupid wish on that. We don't need wishes. We just need to feature me more. Problem solved."

    "Ms. Inagawa, do you mean you'll be wishing you find love? How surprising that you'll need the help."

    "I haven't even decided if I'm drinking any of that gross water!" Eimi protested Megumi's insinuation loudly, before mumbling under her breath. "And besides, it's supposed to be secret. You're not supposed to tell anyone what you're wishing for…"

    "Well, I'm going to drink for success right with you, Hanarin. I don't mind if everyone knows! So don't worry!"

    "Yeah! Me and Momo too! So it'll be ok if Kanon and Eimi want to wish for looove."

    "You'll go up with me though, right Junko?" I asked my best friend to join me in making the wish, practically begging. I knew that she had to make it with me, or else it wouldn't work. She got a funny look on her face and looked around at a few of the other girls before smiling at me gently and nodding her head.

    "Ok then! Everyone get in line!“

    The group huddled together and took our place in line to stand under the awning that the three thin streams ran over. Even though it's a waterfall, what we saw here was more like someone had left three kitchen faucets barely running, the streams breaking up into little droplets as they fell into the pool below them. After what felt like *forever*, we made it to the front of the line right under the awning. A friendly looking older lady handed me a cup on the end of a long wooden stick - I was, naturally, the first to go since I'm the leader - and I started us off, sticking the cup out to fill with the falling liquid.

    "Here you go! Do it with me?" I thrust the stick toward Junko, but she turned her face and instead held out her cupped hands, which I poured some of the water into. She raised it to her lips as I brought the cup to mine. Most people were drinking the water like she was, but this is magic water, so there's no way you could get sick drinking it right from the special cups, which I assume are magic too. I drained every last drop of the cold liquid to make sure our wish had the highest chance of being granted, then handed off the stick to Dam-Bi who was waiting behind us. I was kind of sad to see that half of our group were under the other streams, but I didn't let it bother me. Five wishes is still a lot - assuming wishes work for hamsters like they do people, which I think it's obvious that they do - and it means that we're guaranteed to be a hit!

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