Starlight Constellation Chapter 2: I wish to be a Pleiades Sister! Celestial Amore is born!
“Can anyone explain what’s going on?! What happened to me?! Why are you staring at me like that?!” Ilena finally spoke up, bewildered at her newfound powers.
“You just… you became a Pleiades Guardian!” Kirara squealed, with wonder and excitement in her eyes.
“Me? I… I think you have the wrong girl,” she twirled a strand of her own hair, unsure on whether or not this was a dream. Magic doesn’t exist! But then again…
“No way! After you managed to do all that? You’re the real deal!” the princess continued with awe.
“I’ll explain everything about the Pleiades Guardians on the way,” Mica began, shaking his head. But there was a smile on his face…
“Alright but… I’m not sure how to explain the both of you to my grandmother on the way home,” Ilena shrugged as she began to head home…
“I’m home!” Ilena called out as she gingerly opened the door “And I’ve got company.”
“Well, come in!” Yuu smiled as she began to prepare her apron “You’re welcome to-”
“Lady Starlight!” Mica gasped before bowing down as Kirara followed suit. Ilena tilted her head in sudden confusion on their formalities.
“You didn’t tell us your grandmother was the legendary Celestial Starlight?”
“Because she never told me.” Ilena threw a look at her grandmother “What are they even talking about?!”
Yuu let out a small chuckle “It’s a long story but I’ll tell you after lunch. Make yourself at home, your highness!”
“Yay! Thank you so much! I promise you won’t regret it!”
Later on that evening, before bed, Yuu and Ilena were left to discuss the events of the day alone over a cup of tea…
“So… what’s the deal with all the Pleiades Guardians stuff? And what about the Wish Crystal?” Ilena began as she picked up her teacup, staring into her own reflection.
“Well, let me tell you a story from long ago…” Yuu put down her teacup “Etoilina was a large and mighty kingdom. It was protected by the goddess of miracles and dreams Celestina since the beginning of time. The Wish Crystal helped to bring balance and held a great power that could only be unlocked by a few. However, great power comes with danger to it… An evil force tried to steal the Wish Crystal but Celestina managed to overcome it. At the cost of her own energy and magic… She used her remaining magic and life force to assign seven guardians to protect the Wish Crystal when the time came…”
“And one of them was you?”
“Yes, we managed to seal the great evil away once it rose up again but…”
“The seal was temporary as not all of us survived and… that power must have revived somehow. Your mission is to help save the kingdom and put that great evil to rest for good. You, my dear sweet rose… are the chosen one.”
“Chosen to lead the Pleiades Guardians and find them…”
“I-I think they made a huge mistake… I’m not exactly leader material…”
“You will understand in time why they chose you, I promise…”
Ilena finished her tea and put her cup down “I’ll give the benefit of the doubt. Good night gran.”
“Good night, Len…” Yuu answered with a smile on her face, thinking to herself “You’ll see soon. After all, I was also there on that same path once…”
To say that Kirara was having a fruitful sleep would be a complete and utter lie. She tossed and turned as she remembered the night of the attack…
A royal guard burst through the doors, panting as he caught his breath “Princesses! The queen has ordered you to evacuate!”
The guards shoved the princess away as a Kurosu roared in the distance “Hurry now!”
She looked to see palace ruins crumble down before running quickly…
“Hurry now… hurry now...” the words echoed in the princess’s mind as she jolted awake from the bed.
Kirara sat up and gulped for air, trying to calm down her racing heart. She looked around, trying to remember where she was as she absorbed her surroundings. The memories of the previous day came back to her slowly and hazily as she remembered those events…
“Princess, are you alright?”
She sighed “Yeah, I just… had a bad dream,” The princess soon noticed that the other side of the bed was empty “Huh? Where’s Ilena?”
“She said something about leaving for a run,”
Kirara tossed the blanket aside hurriedly as she leaped out of bed “Oh! I must thank her for everything! Saving me and giving me a place to stay!”
“Ahem!” Mica gestured to the carelessly discarded blanket, a stern glare in his eyes.
“Oh, oops… sorry!” she laughed sheepishly, scooping the blankets in her hands.
Meanwhile, back at Nightmare Corp, trouble was beginning to brew…
“So you’re telling me that the Pleiades Guardians woke up again and you lost the Wish Crystal?!”
“Tsk, that girl is a menace to our mission!” Noire reported, feeling annoyance bubble in his chest “We have to put an end to them!”
“I agree. We must stop the rest from awakening!” the boss began.
“Oh! May I do it? Can I kill her?” A high female voice asked.
“Alright, Monami… you can have this mission!”
“What?!” Noire angrily cried out “But what about me?!”
“After the previous mission, I’m not sure if you can be trusted…”
“Hmph! But you’ll regret it!”
“Don’t worry, I’ll bring you the Wish Crystal!” and with that, she disappeared in a puff of smoke.
The girl stopped dead in her tracks as she heard a familiar voice call out to her. She swiveled around to face a familiar pink-haired girl trailing after her.
“Wait up!” Kirara panted for breath as she caught up to her.
“Please… just… call me Kirara!”
“I thought you were at home sleeping!”
“I… just wanted to… talk to you about yesterday-”
A loud rumble interrupted the conversation and Ilena raised an eyebrow.
“Hehe. I was in a rush so-”
“Let me go get something and we can discuss this.”
“Hmm! This is actually good!” Kirara exclaimed in surprise as she bit into her sandwich before looking at Ilena with a somber expression on her face.
“Well, you see…” she began “It’s just that… you’re amazing,”
“Me? Amazing I… I’m not that amazing…”
“I mean, you just became a legendary guardian AND are hunting down pieces of an artifact, meanwhile… I just run away all the time… You seem so calm and unsurprised by all this…”
“Honestly, I’m rather shocked too…”
Ilena nodded “Last night, I couldn’t sleep. I was so amazed and shocked by what happened. I met a princess, a talking cat, and became a magical girl! So here I am, on a walk to clear my head and convince myself it isn’t a dream...”
“It’s an anime thing but the point is…” she couldn’t help but let out a little laugh “With that power, I kind of… feel special for the first time, and I can protect the people I love too…”
Kirara looked down at the path, a little pang of jealousy in her stomach. She wanted to be a Pleiades Guardian but… the chance didn’t come.
“Don’t be selfish!” she scolded herself guiltily “She’s just trying to help!”
“C’mon, let’s go home! Gran’ll think we’ve been attacked again,” Ilena’s voice cut through her thoughts like scissors cutting through a grand opening ribbon.
Kirara looked out of the terrace, staring at the starry sky as she recalled Ilena’s words earlier. She wondered if Ilena truly meant every word and was still panicking over the newfound realization.
“I wish I had become a Pleiades Guardian,” the princess looked up at the sky “Instead, I’m just useless…”
A dark pink puff of smoke appeared before her eyes and a girl appeared.
“Well, well, well… this became easy~” she let out a little laugh before spinning her parasol, causing the jewel on top to glow “Come forth! Kurosu!”
A loud roar caused Ilena and Mica to wake up. They dashed out to the terrace to investigate the source of the noise. The two stumbled upon a large Kurosu but this time, instead of Noire, they were facing a girl with long, curly pale pink hair and looked rather reminiscent of a French maid in terms of her black, white, and pink ensemble.
“Hehe~. Looks like my opponents are here!” And as the crystal on her necklace glowed, time froze save for Ilena, Kirara, the strange girl, and Mica.
“Aurora Dream Reflection!”
She was surrounded by a glowing light and once it faded, Celestial Rose appeared “The shining wish of my heart, Celestial Rose!"
“Grr~! That pesky brat!” Monami growled, pointing at the trio “Kurosu! Attack!”
The Kurosu spat out a ball of toffee from its mouth. In a desperate attempt to shield the two, Celestial Rose called out “Rose Reflector!” and summoned a shield. Swiftly, she reflected the blobs, slightly cringing at the oozing substance.
However, as she ran and dodged the attacks, the Kurosu released a large ball of the sticky confection and it sailed towards Celestial Rose, trapping her against the wall.
“Urgh! Why toffee of all things?!” she desperately wriggled randomly, trying to get rid of the sticky candy “I hate that stuff!”
“Now! Tell me where the Wish Crystal is or your precious princess gets it!”
The guardian strained her head to look at the strange girl, attempting to free herself from the toffee “I don’t even know okay! And even if I did, I will never reveal it to you!”
“Why you-” Monami growled angrily before letting out an angry cry, summoning a large sphere of magic and was ready to aim it at Celestial Rose. Kirara gasped in fear and shock before crying out “Wait!”
Everyone turned to look at her and Monami lowered the sphere as the princess stepped forward in surrender “Take me. Just… please, don’t hurt her!”
“What? Princess! Have you lost your mind?!”
“I’m done running and hiding!” she walked in front of Monami and gave a determined look “And now, I’ll protect the people I love no matter what!”
A bright light surrounded her and as the light faded, a pink heart-shaped jewel rested in her hands.
Mica gasped in shock before calling out “Kirara! Transform now!”
“Aurora Dream Reflection!” Kirara drew a heart, causing it to glow and surround her in a cocoon of light…
A flood of hearts surrounded her legs and disappeared, forming red Mary Janes with ribbons laced around the feet and ankles.
As she placed both of her hands over her heart, a pink and white minidress materialized along with matching armbands.
With a smile, she blew a kiss, her hair growing longer and lighter as small buns appeared on each side. Two white bands held it up.
Her hands began to form a heart, causing her Dream Crystal to form a brooch.
Landing on the ground, she posed to reveal her new form “The shining love of my heart! Celestial Amore!”
Celestial Amore gasped, inspecting her new form “Is… this really me? This dress is… SO CUTE!” she squealed as she looked at her shoes “Oh! And those shoes! They’re so pretty! And surprisingly comfortable!”
“Erm… We have something to do here?” Celestial Rose raised her eyebrow and let out a small cough, bringing her to attention.
“Oh… right,” She laughed awkwardly before shrugging “Leave it to me!”
Celestial Amore’s brooch began to shine, summoning a tube of lipstick. She grabbed it before applying it to her lips.
“Love me tender…” she kissed the palm of her hand, forming a pink heart “Wink!”
Thrusting the heart forward, it circled her, multiplying into several hearts before transforming into a giant one. The heart sailed to the Kurosu and Monami. The monster roared out in agony before disappearing into thin air.
The toffee suddenly disappeared and Celestial Rose let out a sigh of relief. The transformation dissipated in a burst of light. Monami howled out in frustration before releasing a cry of pain “Next time, I’ll get you!”
Before they could respond, she disappeared into thin air. Mica gaped before glaring at the princess.
“I can’t believe you!” he ranted “How careless were you?! Don’t do that again! Understood?”
Suddenly, the two heard footsteps come closer as Yuu opened the door “Girls! Are you alright? When I checked, I felt like I was fro-”
She saw the two girls, smiling at each other. Kirara began cryptically “And so our search has begun…”
