Ojamajo Doremi 16 Volume 3 Chapter 1 Part5

CHAPTER 1 - THE PARIS DIVA

PART 05

Misa’s note: Just like in the anime, Hana-chan refers to herself in 3rd person, as ‘Hana-chan’.

Onpu-chan and I arrived at the Eiffel Tower, and Hazuki-chan, Ai-chan, Momo-chan and Majorika joined us shortly after.

Everyone gasped when they saw Onpu-chan in her witch apprentice uniform.

I quickly told them why Onpu-chan decided to become an apprentice as everyone smiled and nodded happily.

“I knew Onpu-chan will choose to be Hana-chan’s Mama too,” Ai-chan said, grinning.

“So all my 5 girls are apprentices again,” Majorika whispered emotionally.

Just then, the Eiffel Tower started to shine like a diamond.

“Whoa! What’s happening!?”

I squealed in surprise, falling on my bottom.

“The Eiffel Tower lights up like this every night at five minute intervals for about an hour,” Onpu-chan explained as she reached out a hand and pulled me back to my feet.

We stuck our heads out from the observation deck, and saw numerous camera flashes go off around the base of the tower. Everyone must have been waiting for this to happen.

Just then…

We all heard the sounds of an accordion, drifting up from the first observation deck below us.

“That song…!” Hazuki-chan yelled.

It was ‘Lupinus Lullaby’, the song we used to sing to Hana-chan when she was a baby.

“It’s Hana-chan!” Ai-chan shouted.

“She must be down there!” Momo-chan added.

We all looked downwards, but the illuminations were so bright that we couldn’t spot Hana-chan.

“I’ll go get her!” I yelled

Just as I was about to straddle my broom,

“Doremi-chan, no!”

It was Onpu-chan.

“It’s so bright down there. You’ll be spotted and caught on camera right away by those people down below.”

“O-Oh…”

“Doremi-chan, this is when we should use magic,” Hazuki-chan said.

Everyone nodded and quickly activated their Parara taps to summon the Sweet Porons. Then, we spread out in a circle and placed our Porons together.

My heart thundered, knowing that we were finally summoning Magical Stage as a group of five. I was sure everyone felt the same way too.

“Pirika pirilala, freely!”

“Paipai ponpoi, flexibly!”

“Pameruku raruku, sonorously!”

“Pururun purun, refreshingly!”

“Perutan petton, eloquently!”

Chanting, we placed our Sweet Porons together, with mine in the center, then pointed them at the sky.

“Magical Stage!”

Thanks to the illuminations, the people down below probably couldn’t see the light cast by Magical Stage.

“Bring Hana-chan to us!”

Magical Stage whirled, and a blinding light appeared before us.

It disappeared in an instant, and a young girl, dressed in white and playing the accordion, stood before us.

She wore a white hat, her long blonde twin tails flowing in the breeze.

There was no mistake. It was Hana-chan!

“Hana-chan!”

Hearing our voices, Hana-chan stopped her playing.

“Doremi!”

Placing the accordion down at her feet, Hana-chan jumped into my arms.

“Hana-chan!”

I held Hana-chan in a tight hug as I looked at her, but tears blurred my vision and I couldn’t make out her face clearly.

Then, calling the other girls’ names, Hana-chan gave them a hug one by one. Everyone was crying, especially Hana-chan.

“I just… I just wanted to see everyone again!” She exclaimed, about to throw herself into my arms again, but I reluctantly held out a hand.

“Stop!”

“Doremi~…?”

Hana-chan asked, looking at me quizzically as she wiped her tears away.

She should have been a six year old girl, but she looked just like a young adult now.

“Hana-chan, why are you doing this? Why are you trying to get the attention of humans?”

“Well…”

“You know you’re not supposed to do that, don’t you? Everyone will find out that you’re a witch,” Hazuki-chan said.

Hana-chan nodded meekly, then stole a glance at Majorika, who was standing a distance behind us.

“Well, Hana-chan just wanted to find Yume-chan. Doremi and everyone have come to find me, so I thought Yume-chan may come too…”

“Who is Yume-chan?” I asked.

n.o.body could have antic.i.p.ated Hana-chan’s reply.

“She’s Hana-chan’s little sister!”

“Whaaaat!!?”

Everyone exclaimed loudly. Only Majorika seemed calm as she asked.

“Hana, so you knew, about her?”

Hana-chan nodded.

Unable to understand the situation, the rest of us could only look at Hana-chan and Majorika.

“Wait, what does this all mean?” I asked Hana-chan.

“The illuminations will turn off soon. The cameras will capture us if we remain here any longer. Let’s go back to the hotel, then we can talk.”

Onpu-chan, the first of us to regain her composure, suggested.

Everyone agreed, and with Hana-chan sitting behind me on my broom, we flew up and away from the shining tower. The moment we flew past the tip of the tower, the illuminations died away, allowing the dark night to swallow us up.

High above us, the smiling moon shone in the sky.

~~~~~~

Back at Majorika’s room in the hotel, we rushed to continue the conversation, not even sparing a moment to change back to our civilian forms.

“What’s all this about Hana-chan having a little sister!?” Ai-chan started.

“And Majorika knew all about it?” Onpu-chan followed in rapid succession.

“I guess…”

“Seriously, I just don’t get any of this! n.o.body ever told us that Hana-chan had a little sister!” I yelled in frustration.

Hana-chan nodded in understanding before adding, “Hana-chan didn’t know about it until a year ago too.”

With that, she finally began her story.

One year ago, Hana-chan, Surumeko-chan, and the other kids went on a kindergarten excursion trip to the Queen’s gardens. While they were strolling through the grounds, Hana-chan overheard a conversation among a group of old witches.

“Did you know? The next Queen, Hana-chan, has a younger sister.”

Shocked, Hana-chan went to ask the witches for more information, but was told that it was only a rumor before the witches hurried away.

Her curiosity piqued, Hana-chan went to the palace to speak to the Queen. The Queen’s expression turned to shock when Hana-chan asked her question, but it quickly disappeared.

“You have no younger sister. What you heard was just a rumor, there’s no need to worry about it.”

That was the Queen’s answer.

However, Hana-chan suspected that the Queen was lying, but before she could find out more, Majorin suddenly interjected.

“Your Majesty, it is time for the senate meeting.”

The Queen took her cue and left the room.

Hana-chan was sure that her questions had shook the Queen, and that Majorin was also lying.

Her mind filled with doubt, Hana-chan then used magic to find out the ident.i.ty of one of the witches she met in the gardens, and went to see her.

“Don’t tell anyone I told you this,” the old witch made Hana-chan promise before she began her tale.

“Every 100 years, the Witch Queen Rose gives birth to babies who stand the chance to become the next Queen. However, I once heard that the Rose always delivers two babies each time.”

“Hana-chan has never heard of that!” Hana-chan exclaimed, eyes wide.

“A good example are the twins Majorika and Majoruka, the two witches who were once in the running to become our next Queen.”

Hana-chan’s eyes grew wider.

“But they don’t look alike at all. Besides, they dislike each other so much. It can’t be true, can it?”

“Well, that’s because they themselves never realized that they’re twins,” the old witch answered.

Apparently, Majorika and Majoruka were born at the same time, but adopted and brought up by Majoririka and another witch respectively. The two of them, having grown up in separate worlds, they never discovered that they were actually sisters.

At this point in Hana-chan’s story,…

“W-Whaaaat!!? Majoruka and I are sisters…!!?”

It was Majorika’s turn to be surprised.

“That wasn’t the only shocking thing. The current Queen, and the Queen before her, and the Queen before that; all of them had younger sisters too,” Hana-chan revealed.

“Hmm… Now that you mentioned it, when Majotourbillon abdicated during her reign, her sister Majovague continued to reign in her stead,” Majorika mused.

“I also remember hearing a rumor once about the current Queen having a younger sister,” Lala, who had returned with the other fairies, added.

Then, she proceeded to explain how Queens are chosen in the witch world.

In the past, the reigning Queens can appoint any baby born from the Witch Queen Rose as her successor, as long as the child proved to possess sufficient magical power and the right personality.

However, should no new babies be born during a Queen’s reign, suitable candidates previously born from the Rose can be nominated, and an election held to select the next Queen.

This rule was the reason why Majorika and Majoruka were at odds. Being the most suitable candidates at that time, they were in a constant race to gather funding for each of their campaign runs.

Then, Hana-chan was born, raised by us, and appointed as the successor by the current Queen. Majorika and Majoruka thus lost their dreams of becoming the next Queen.

In a case like Majotourbillon’s, where the Queen abdicates before her time, there is a rule that her younger sister would take the throne. This resulted in Majovague ruling over the witch world before the current Queen took over.

Why would such a rule exist? This was because, before Majotourbillon’s time, there was a set of twins who were so wonderful that they were made Queens together. However, they soon started fighting over the throne, and in a disastrous turn of events, the witch world was divided into two.

In order to prevent that from happening again, from Majotourbillon’s time, the first twin to be born would gain the chance to be the next Queen, while the younger twin would be brought up in secret in the human world. Only in situations where the first twin abdicates or pa.s.ses away before her time would the younger sister be brought back from the human world to take her place. All these rules were set in place by the senate.

To further eradicate any threats to the throne, a secret rule was made to keep the existence of the younger sister a secret from everyone, including the older sister herself.

As Lala finished her explanation, Ai-chan let out a loud sigh.

“I see. Does that mean the current Queen’s sister still lives among us in the human world?”

“Hana-chan asked the old witch about that too… But she said that, aside from the child being raised by a witch living in the human world, she didn’t know what had become of her,” Hana-chan explained.

“By the way, Hana, I remember you asked me the same question before I was fired from being your guardian,” Majorika recalled.

Hana-chan nodded in agreement.

“But Majorika got angry and told Hana-chan off. You told me to stop asking stupid questions, and to study hard to become the next Queen.”

“Oh, did I really say that?”

“Hana-chan knew that Majorika definitely knew something, but I knew you definitely won’t tell me even if I asked,” Hana-chan replied.

“So what did you do?” Onpu-chan asked.

“Hana-chan thought it would be quicker and easier to ask Majoruka instead, because she loves to talk.”

“W-Wait a minute!” Majorika exclaimed. “Are you telling me that’s the reason why I was fired!?”

“Pinpon! Majoruka told Hana-chan the whole story when she was drunk.”

“You brat~!”

Majorika looked like she was about to throttle Hana-chan, and was stopped only because Ai-chan and I physically held her back.

“Well, you were also so strict with Hana-chan, forcing me to skip a grade and go to magical school. You were so noisy! Hana-chan didn’t want to leave her friends behind in magical kindergarten,” Hana-chan continued, heedless of the fact that she’d done anything wrong.

“Shut up! You were the one who chose to skip a grade and go to magical school after we sat down and talked it out!” Majorika countered angrily.

“But, but, Hana-chan just wanted to graduate as soon as possible and go to meet Doremi-chan and everyone!”

While I knew she was in the wrong, I couldn’t help but understand how Hana-chan must have felt…

“Anyway, why are you still looking for your little sister. You know the rules, don’t you?” Hazuki-chan tried to change the subject.

Hearing this, Hana-chan’s expression turned angry.

“Who cares about those rules made by the adults!? Hana-chan wants to see her little sister! That’s what I told the Queen too.”

“Wow, you must have sounded so cool!” Momo-chan gushed.

Wait a minute, Momo-chan. But before I could counter her, Onpu-chan asked,

“And what did the Queen say?”

According the Hana-chan, the Queen then recounted her own personal experience. Before she became the Queen of the witch world, she had also found out about this secret rule. Similar to Hana-chan, she had confronted the senate and Majovague, the Queen at the time. She wanted to meet her younger sister and find out if she was a more powerful witch. If so, then her younger sister had a stronger right to become Queen.

After a long discussion, she finally managed to convince the senate, learn the location of her younger sister in the human world, and travel to meet her.

“What did her sister say when the Queen met her?” Majorika, who had calmed down somewhat, asked.

“Her little sister just smiled in a cool manner and said, ‘I’d rather be a human than a witch. I don’t want to use magic. I just want to live quietly in the human world. Don’t worry about me, you should go back and be a great Queen.'”

“What a wonderful sister,” Hazuki-chan whispered, and I totally agreed.

“After that, Hana-chan learned that her little sister’s name is Yume-chan. Then, I asked the Queen where she lived,” Hana-chan continued.

“And what was the Queen’s answer?” Lala asked.

“Yume-chan lives in a place called Paris, together with the witch Majolebeurre.”

“What!? Majolebeurre!?” Majorika yelled as she pushed Lala aside.

“Do you know her, Majorika?”

“Yes. She used to be a gardener working in the Queen’s garden, but quit about 6 years ago. She then moved to Paris, and opened a MAHO-do selling flowers… Could it be that Majolebeurre was the first person to discover Hana-chan’s sister when she was born from the Witch Queen Rose, and thus became her mother?”

“If she was a gardener, there’s a high chance that was what happened,” Onpu-chan agreed.

“But why did she quit her job?” Hazuki-chan asked doubtfully.

“No doubt because of that secret rule. If she left her job 6 years ago, then it coincides with the time when Hana-chan came back to the witch world after you girls finished your 1-year duty of being mothers,” Lala explained.

“So we just need to visit the MAHO-do here to find Yume-chan?” I asked.

“Just a moment! But the MAHO-do in Paris is run by Majomich.e.l.le, not Majolebeurre!” Momo-chan gasped as she pointed out.

“Oh, that’s right…”

Everyone sighed.

“I did find the whole thing strange, so I brought it up with Majocollete from the antique store. Apparently, Majolebeurre fell really sick about a year ago, so she pa.s.sed the store to Majomich.e.l.le and went to live out her final days in a nursing home in Southern France,” Majorika shared.

“So Yume-chan is there with her?” Hana-chan’s face lit up again.

“I don’t know, but we should visit Majocollete tomorrow again at the antique store.”

Hana-chan looked unhappy, but we were all exhausted from our day out, so she reluctantly accepted Majorika’s suggestion and we all trooped back to our rooms.

Hana-chan ended up crawling in to share my bed.

Though Hana-chan was eager to share about her life in the magical world, Hazuki-chan and I were so tired that we fell asleep the moment our heads. .h.i.t the pillow.