"So you still remember me, Keiko-san.", Hayato said.

"Hm, you're pretty handsome for an Earth Spirit.", Ryouko commented as she stared at Hayato from head-to-toe, "I expected you to be like scary and stuff like that, by the way I'm not Keiko-san."

"You can't fool me!" he said furiously, just then his eyes changed color and he chanted something, "Boku no san made kazoetara, anata no kokoro wa boku ni kizoku suru mono to suru.", then he blew a powdery stuff on Ryouko's face which made her lose consciousness.

Meanwhile over at the dorm, Izumi went to check on Keiko.

"Ah, obacchan let me help you with that.", Izumi said.

"Oh, no it's okay, your girlfriend is already helping me.", Keiko said with a smile, "She's incredibly nice, she is indeed a changed woman."

Izumi chuckled, "I guess, she is. So, where's Ryou-chan?"

"Hm? Isn't she with you?", Keiko asked.

Izumi shook his head, "No, she actually went ahead, saying she'll help you out with the cooking."

"I haven't seen her, maybe she fell asleep in her room or something.", she kept on stirring her stew, "Could you check on her for me please?"

"Ah, yes, of course.", Izumi agreed, "I'll be able to give her my gift.", he said to himself, and then he went straight to the room, he was knocking at the door, "Ryou-chan, you liar, you said you're going to help your mom. Open up, I have something for you.", but there was non response, "Eh? It's not locked after all, so careless all the time."

He entered the room but Ryouko was not there, "Where could she be? Maybe he bought some ice cream.", he said then headed down to the kitchen, "Obbasan, she's not in her room."

"Where could she be?", Keiko asked looking a bit worried, "You know how idiotic she is sometimes, she does well in school but in real-life situations she is so dense."

Izumi chuckled, "Maybe she bought ice cream, she mentioned earlier that she wants one."

"What if she got lost? Aish, that kid makes me worry all the time."

"She'll be back soon, the ice cream shop is only near by.", Izumi said assuring Keiko that Ryouko will be back.

"Obbachan! I'm back!", Himiko exclaimed, "Oh, Icchan you're here to help to?"

Izumi nodded, "Yeah, I did."

"Yay! I'll be working with my Icchan!", she cheered.

Ryouko was regaining her consciousness, "Ugh, my head hurts.", she said as she kept on patting her head, "Eh? Where am I?", she thought to herself as she looked around, she was in a room filled with flowers and plants, butterflies were fluttering around, "This place sure is nice, but why on Earth am I only wearing my underwear?"

"Oh, you're already awake, my princess.", Hayato said.

Ryouko turned to Hayato, "Yah, where am I and why am I naked?", she said while covering herself with some leaves.

"Well, this is our wedding night, since you were unconscious I took the initiative to take off your clothes for you.", Hayato replied as he started to undress himself.

"Woah! Woah! Woah! You're making a mistake here!', Ryouko yelled at him.

"This is no mistake; I've been waiting for a long time to have you.", he said walking a few steps closer to Ryouko.

"What did you do to all those girls you kidnapped?"

"I returned them to the surface since I already have you."

"You're mistaken, I'm not who you think I am, I'm not Yamada Keiko, my name is Yamada Ryouko."

Hayato grinned, "Do you think I'm stupid?"

Ryouko sighed, "I'm telling the truth, Yamada Keiko is my mother.", she kept on arguing with him.

Hayato grabbed her and started kissing her neck, "You can't trick me.", he kept on kissing her but she pushed him away with her powers.

"What you're doing right now tickles.", Ryouko commented.

"Not putting up a fight eh?", Hayato grinned, "You do like me, Keiko-san."

"I'm telling you, I'm not Yamada Keiko.", she argued, "I'm a bit idiotic and dense at times, but even I can understand when a person says they're not 'this' or 'that'.", she gave him a light punch in his face, "Now, get off."

Hayato chuckled and let go of Ryouko, "You are not Keiko-san."

Ryouko sighed, "That's what I kept on telling you."

"Keiko-san is not as clumsy and not as manly as you are.", Hayato commented.

Ryouko nodded, "I agree with you on that.", she rummaged through the leaves, "Where did you put my clothes, Hayato-kun? It's freezing."

"They're over there. I must go now and claim Keiko-san."

Ryouko trapped him in a vortex, "No, you are not. Let me make it clear for you, my mother is not in love and will never be in love with you."

"Why you?! Let me out of this inferior vortex!", Hayato exclaimed, "She will fall in love with me no matter what!"

"She will never be in love with you, because she is in love with my father!", Ryouko argued, "She will forever be in love with my father, and no one not even an Earth Spirit like you can change that!"

"NO! No one can stop me!", he yelled as vines wrapped around Ryouko's body restricting her movements, "You can't stop me now, puny little human!"

"Kasai Basuto", she said then flame came bursting out of her hands, "You're so persistent, I told you already, you can't have her!"

Hayato stared at her with misbelief, "How did you get out of those vines?"

"Uhh…with fire, I guess.", Ryouko replied.

Hayato took out his sword, "I'll kill you!", he was about to charge at her and then their surroundings started shaking.

"Is this what an earthquake feels like?", Ryouko asked, "It feels so relaxing, I feel like I'm a jelly, so wiggly and stuff."

"They're destroying my home!", Hayato yelled as he pulled up to the surface with Ryouko, "Stop destroying my home, you can have this girl back!", he said as he threw Ryouko to the ground.

"Ouch!", Ryouko yelled, "I think I broke my arm."

Izumi rushed to her, "Are you okay?", just then he turned red from ear to ear, "Why on Earth are you naked, with this weather?!"

"He undresses me while I was unconscious, that is not so nice of him ne?"

Keiko ran towards Ryouko as well, "My Ryouchii are you alright? Why are you naked? Did he rape you?"

Hayato stared at Keiko, "Keiko-san…"

Keiko glared at Hayato, "What did you do to my daughter you bastard?!", she said and gave him a good slap.

"Keiko-san, I love you.", Hayato said.

"How can you be so selfish and tell me about your feelings, when the person I care about most in the world is hurt! And it's all because of you!", Keiko furiously said, "I swear to God, if you harm her ever again, I will kill you!"

"Kacchan! He didn't do anything to harm me, he just took off my clothes.", Ryouko said.

"Yes! I just took off her clothes!", Hayato defended himself.

"And does that make any difference?", Keiko asked, "It simply means you were trying to rape her!"

"I thought she was you!", Hayato exclaimed, "All these years, I've been waiting for you to come back and be my bride, I've loved you all these years and when I saw your daughter, my desire for you became even more stronger than before."

Keiko sighed, "You have to understand that you and I can never happen, I'm in love with Souichirou, he's my husband and you can't change that."

"But, you and i…"

Before he could finish what he was saying Kazuhiko, some fairies and some ogres arrived, "What is happening here?", Kazuhiko asked.

"Oh no! Elique-sama is hurt!", some fairies said and came to her rescue.

"Eh? The Elique is here?", Hayato asked, "You mean to tell me, your daughter is the Elique?"

"Yes, she is.", Keiko replied.

Hayato immediately got down to his knees and bowed before Ryouko, "I am sorry for any harm I've caused you Elique, please forgive me."

"Yah! What's with you all of a sudden?!", Izumi asked, "Being all friendly and kind just because she is the Elique."

"It's not what you think!", Hayato said defending himself, "When our kind was created, we were given the mission to protect and serve the Elique when the right time comes."

"So you're trying to tell me that you wouldn't even exist without the Elique?", Izumi asked.

Hayato nodded, "To serve the Elique is our only purpose in this world."

"I'm cold.", Ryouko said. Izumi lifted her up and all of them went to the dormitory.

"Is everything all right? Woah!", Kyou jumped in shock as soon as he saw Ryouko in her underwear, "Wh..why is she wearing like nothing?", his face flushed red, luckily it was only Kyou, Hajime and Himiko in the lobby.

"An Earth spirit tried to make love with her, so yeah.", Izumi replied.

"Where is that bastard?!", Hajime exclaimed and as soon as he saw Hayato he rushed to him and was about to punch him in the face.

"Please don't hurt him!", Ryouko said, "It's not his fault, he was only mistaken, there's no need to fight."

"I'm sorry, I was wrong to act that way.", Hayato said sincerely, "I was only driven by my feelings for Keiko-san, I thought the Elique was Keiko-san."

"Can we save this for later?", Ryouko asked, "It's freezing cold and I'm dying.", she said and Izumi helped her to her room. She got some clothes on wore a jacket and wrapped herself with a blanket.

"Do you want anything?", Izumin asked looking worried.

Ryouko shook her head, "I just want to sleep and be warm here in my bed."

Izumi smiled and glanced at his watch, "Oh, it's already 12:38 a.m., so it's already the 18th eh?"

"Eh? It's that time already? No wonder I feel so sleepy.", Ryouko commented, "Aren't you sleepy? You can sleep beside me if you want to."

Izumi held out his hand, "Here, it's my gift for you.", he said while blushing.

Ryouko looked puzzled, "What's it for?"

"Don't tell me you forgot?"

"Forgot about what?", Ryouko asked as she took the box.

"It's the 18th of November today, it's your birthday!", Izumi exclaimed.

Ryouko stared blankly at the corner for a while, "Ah! Yeah, it is! I totally forgot."

Izumi sighed, "Since it's your birthday today, I'll try my best to tolerate your stupidity."

Ryouko ignored him and shook he small box, "So, what did you get me?"

"Open it."

Ryouko opened it up and saw the necklace, "Waa~ it looks expensive. Yah! Did you steal this from some shop or something?"

"Of course not!", Izumi defended himself, "I saved up for that. I wanted to give you something special for your birthday.

"Oh, thanks. You're so sweet Mi-chan.", she said with a smile and tried on the necklace, "It looks so pretty."

"It's not only pretty, it's like a cellphone too.", Izumi said.

"Wah! Really?"

Izumi nodded and explained how the necklace works, "We can use it to communicate, but only the two of us can use it, if you give it to another person it won't have any effect, we can even communicate, in case one of us dies. All we have to do it put our blood in it."

"It sounds like voodoo magic.", she commented, "But it's still awesome.", she pricked her finger with a needle, "Owwie, so Mi-chan where do I put the blood?"

Izumi pointed to the gem, "Right there, at the middle."

"Okay, here we go.", Ryouko wore the necklace after putting her blood in it, "Wow, it totally absorbed my blood."

"Do you like it?", Izumi asked, "You don't have to force yourself to like it, if you really don't."

"No! I like it very much, since you saved up for it.", Ryouko replied, "So where's yours?"

"I don't have one, but that necklace comes with this pair of earrings.", Izumi said as she showed Ryouko her newly pierced ear.

Ryouko poked his ear, "Does it hurt?"

"Not really, it feels a bit itchy but it doesn't hurt at all."

Ryouko gave Izumi a big hug, "Thank you for the gift and for everything, you're the best friend anyone could ever ask for."

"Yah, I didn't even greet you yet.", Izumi chuckled, "Happy 17th Birthday Ryou-chan."

"What is the meaning of this?", Himiko asked interrupting their moment, "Are you guys cheating on me?!"

"Cheating? Is there an exam?", Ryouko asked Izumi.

"You're mistaken.", Izumi said, "I gave her something for her birthday and she thanked me with a hug."

Himiko smiled, "I thought you guys were dating behind my back or something. Sorry for the misunderstanding."

Ryouko chuckled, "Me and Mi-chan dating? No way! He practically sees me as a guy. Ne?", she asking turning to Izumi, "Am I right Mi-chan?"

"Uhh, yeah, something like that.", Izumi replied with a weak smile.

"He's like my brother from another mother.", Ryouko added clinging her arm over Izumi's shoulder.

"So what did Icchan give you?", Himiko asked while rummaging through Ryouko's stuff, "Come on let me see it."

"I'm wearing it, it's a necklace.", Ryouko replied, "It's pretty ne?"

Himiko nodded, "Yeah, it's so pretty. I'm jealous."

"Don't worry, I'll get you one on your birthday.", Izumi said.

Himiko pouted, "Can't you just give it as a present for you girlfriend?"

"Eh? He's really stingy.", Ryouko commented, "Sure enough he'll say that his love for you is enough as a gift."

"Aww, is that true?", Himiko asked in disappointment.

Izumi yawned, "We should all go to bed, it's getting pretty late. We even have school tomorrow.", he held out his hand to Himiko, "Let's go now, Himiko."

Himiko giggled and took Izumi's hand, "We'll be going now Ryouko-chan, happy birthday to you!", she said as she slammed the door behind her.

Meanwhile Kazuhiko went to the building at the southern most part of the school facility, to the building where students are forbidden to enter the building was called the Mahou no Horu.

Kazuhiko used a special key to enter the facility, "Sorry for the intrusion."

There stood the Mahou Council, consisting of 4 members, it is the gathering of the most experienced and intelligent Youniques of the magic world, they are in-charge of taking care of the magic world and they were given the responsibility of guarding the book where the prophecy is written.

"It's alright, we're sorry for calling you out in the middle of the night.", Yoshiaki said.

"What seems to be the problem?", Kazuhiko asked, "It seemed urgent, that's why as soon as the messenger told me, I came right away."

"It is time for the prophecy to happen.", the elders said in unison.

Kazuhiko gasped, "But, it is said that the time for it to happen is at her 18th birthday, it's only her 17th today."

"We have no control of the events that will happen.", Yoshiaki said, "The spirits that are bound to protect the magic world have awoken, which means the evil that will be coming upon us has awoken as well."

"It's too soon, the Elique and the guardians are not ready.", Kazuhiko protested, "They have so much to learn, it's not acceptable."

"The decision is not in our hands, nature has spoken and we should take action.", Kaede said, another elder from the council

Kazuhiko sighed, "I guess, there is no need for an argument ne?", he said as he scratched his head, "How soon will we send them off?"

"Maybe a day or two after tomorrow.", Yoshiaki replied.

"The mother of Yamada Ryouko-sama is here as well isn't she?", Hotaka, another elder asked.

Kazuhiko nodded, "Yes, but from what I know she'll be leaving tomorrow."

"It's time for her to know what truly happened to her husband.", Kaeda said.

As soon as Ryouko stepped out of the dormitory, Ryosuke was already waiting for her outside with a box in his hand.

"Ah, Ryouko-chan, happy birthday!", he greeted her with a smile and handed over his present, "I hope you like it."

"Oh, thank you.", Ryouko bowed as a sign of appreciation and opened up the gift, "Oh, ear mufflers and mittens."

"Do you like them?", Ryosuke asked.

Ryouko nodded, "Yeah, they're totally useful for this kind of weather.", she said as she wore the mittens, "They would've been perfect if they were colored red.", she added.

Izumi hit her with his bag, "Yah! At least say 'thank you'. He already gave you a gift and you're still complaining?"

"I already thanked him Grumpy-kun.", Ryouko replied and stuck out her tongue to tease Izumi.

"Should we go to school together?", Ryosuke asked.

Izumi immediately placed his arm around Ryosuke, "Yeah, let's go to school together, Ryosuke-senpai.", he said.

Ryosuke nodded, "We should or else we'll get late.", he replied, "You coming Ryouko-chan?"

"Yeah, wait for me.", she replied as she ran towards them and grabbed Izumi's hand, "Ryosuke-senpai, he is mine so please keep your hands off ne?"

Izumi immediately blushed, "Oi! What are you saying so early in the morning.", he said as he turned away, "Himiko will be mad at you if she sees us."

Ryouko shook her head, "No she won't, it's my birthday today, so I think she'll be fine with this."

Ryosuke chuckled, "How cute."

"Eh? Ryosuke-senpai you think this creature is cute?", Izumi asked trying to tease Ryouko, "Be careful it bites."

"Oi! Ryosuke you forgot something!", a familiar voice said, it was Shizuka, the one doing xxx things to win the title "School Idol".

"Ah, did I?", Ryosuke asked as he thought hard about it, "No, I didn't forget anything."

"Stupid as always.", Shizuka said as she handed over something to Ryosuke, "It's your student ID, you left it at the dining table."

"Oh! It's the girl who was having sex…", Ryouko thought to herself.

"Thank you so much.", Ryosuke said, "I wouldn't know what I'd do without you."

Shizuka sighed, "Of course, you are a bit stupid after all.", she then took Ryosuke's hand, "Walk me to class."

"Bye, see you later.", Ryosuke waved goodbye as they left.

"Waa! So the rumor is true!", Himiko squealed making Izumi and Ryouko jump in fright.

"Gyaaaaaa!", Izumi screamed, "You scared the shit out of me."

"What's the matter?", Ryouko asked.

"Isn't that Ryosuke-senpai and Shizuka-senpai?", Himiko asked.

Ryouko and Izumi nodded in unison.

"From what I heard, there are rumors going around about those two.", Himiko said, "It all started about a week ago, their parents went here and arranged for them to stay in the same dorm room."

"EH?!", Izumi asked, "Who in their right mind would do that?"

"You guys seriously don't know?", Himiko asked.

Ryouko shook her head, "What do we need to know anyway?"

"Shizuka-senpai and Ryosuke-senpai are actually engaged!", Himiko said cheerfully.

Ryouko's eyes widened, "Engaged? Ryosuke-senpai is going to marry…"