DAYS OF CALAMITY

Topic: A Magic Cup 

A long green-haired girl was standing in front of a school gate. It was written on the gate: Vocaloid High School. The girl smiled while looking at her school. She entered the school, and ambled to the school’s infield. She stopped walking under a big tree. There were many boys who were playing basketball, and one of those boys was the blue-haired boy named Kaito. Shion Kaito. He was awesome. The girl kept her gaze on him until an old man chewed her out. She clicked her tongue, unknowing who had just chewed her out. She turned her face to the man. Shoot! It was the headmaster! His name was Kiyoteru Himaya. The students called him Kiyoteru-sensei. That was how the students greeted a teacher. Kiyoteru-sensei seemed to search something lost from her appearance.

“Where’s your name tag?” he asked. The girl scratched her head while smiling. She forgot to put her name tag. It was okay, she brought it. She showed it to Kiyoteru-sensei. It was written: Hatsune Miku. Kiyoteru-sensei nodded, and left without saying other words. What a weird old man, the girl named Miku said inwardly. Their headmaster was a hilarious person, but sometimes he could be a monster. He was also often ordering people to do something ridiculous.

Miku turned her gaze back to the boys, but she saw something shiny was being brought by a cat near the corner of the field. The cat put it and left it there.  What’s that? She inquired. She got interested in that shiny thing. It could be a small clod of gold. Well, it’s too big to be gold, but who knows? She thought. She walked slowly to the edge of the field, but she didn’t realize a ball was coming to her head, ready to hit her. After a while, a big thud was heard. Miku was fallen to the ground, but she was awake. All of the boys surrounded her. She felt someone took her body, but she remembered about the shiny thing. She opened her eyes at once and made all of the boys startled. She asked Kaito to put her down. Wait, Kaito? Miku shook her head slowly. It was Kaito who took her several seconds ago. Well, the important thing was to take the shiny thing though.

“I’m okay,” said Miku while smiling. Then, she tried to break through the crowd by walking in stagger. She took the shiny thing and put it into her bag. No one knew because she covered the thing by her body. The boys were still looking at her. She smiled again before she walked away. After her fourth steps, she was fainted. Luckily, someone caught her before she fell.

Miku opened her eyes. She found herself was in the school medical unit. She wondered how long had she slept in that place. She looked at someone who was sitting next to her. He was Kaito. She saw Kaito was holding a cup. She remembered that the shiny thing was a cup, and it might be the cup. Miku checked her bag and didn’t find it anywhere. Then, she looked at Kaito. He seemed to be angry with her.

“Are you a moron?! Walking to the field mindlessly!” he reproved her. Miku just kept quiet. She thought Kaito was so gentle, but he could be angry.

“You walked there just to take this cup? What a moron!” he kept mumbling. Miku looked at his angry face, but couldn’t say a word although she was so sensitive with the bad words such as ‘moron’.

“It’s easy Kaito, you can let her rest for a while,” someone appeared behind Kaito. She was so beautiful. Her hair was long and shiny. It was pink coloured. She looked very feminine.

“Feel better, Miku?” she asked. Miku nodded.

“I’m Luka, nice to meet you,” Luka said.

“She is your senior, so you must be polite to her,” Kaito said to Miku with a menacing aura.

Suddenly, an announcement was heard through the microphone. It was the headmaster. Miku, Luka and Kaito left the room and stood in the corridor. All of the students and teachers did the same thing. Once they heard the headmaster’s voice through the microphone, they had to get out of the classes or whatever it was.

“Attention! This is very dangerous! Listen carefully! Anyone who can find a little brown cup will get a big price, and I want you to find it!” he said. The atmosphere became noisy. All of the students and teachers were asking around. Kaito and Miku stared each other. A cup?

“Search anywhere possible, and do it quickly! This is a very urgent mission for you!” the headmaster said again. All of the students became quiet. They said no words. No sounds.

“YOU WILL DO IT NOW OR YOU WILL GET SUSPENDED FROM SCHOOL!” the old man shouted loudly through the microphone, and it made all of the people scattered all at once. They ran to all directions in hurry. Miku took the cup from Kaito and hid it. She went back to the medical room to take her bag and put the cup in. When she went out of the room, there were so many people squeezed through in the corridor, and because of the fast movement of the people, her bag slipped from her shoulder. Luckily, someone took it. It was Kaito! He aimed Miku to go with him, and brought Miku to trail after him. They went upstairs to the separated room in front of the field; the headmaster room. They stayed there until someone came to that place. They sat back to back while panting to get breath. No one was there, so they could take a rest. Five minutes left, and the crowding people were still busy on their job to find the cup.

Miku took a glance on Kaito who was kept quiet since they arrived there. He had blue hair and dark blue eyes. His eyes were like the blue sapphire. They were very beautiful. When she was looking at his face, he turned his eyes on hers and it made Miku got shocked. She turned her face straightaway.

“Someone’s coming,” he said. Miku didn’t realize it. She saw the headmaster running toward them. He might assume they had found the cup. Why? Is the cup so valuable? Miku inquired.

“Why are you here? Have you found the cup?” he asked. Miku and Kaito stared each other. Then, they nodded and smiled to each other as if they were connected by something. Miku and Kaito stared at the headmaster. Kaito gave a sign to Miku for not to show the cup yet. The headmaster felt something strange. He assumed that the two had found the cup, and they wanted the price. Then, the headmaster asked them to come to his office. Miku and Kaito sat for a long time. They were waiting for the promised big price, but it was strange. The headmaster seemed to think while bustling around. He didn’t show anything as a price.

“What are you doing Sensei? We have been waiting for almost 8 minutes, and you haven’t given the price yet?” Kaito said. Miku nudged him fretfully. How dare he say something like that to a headmaster?! Her inner reproved.

“You haven’t shown the cup yet,” he replied. Miku sharpened her sight. It was more looked like he didn’t have anything to give as a price. Miku looked at Kaito. He nodded. Then, Miku took out the cup. The headmaster looked to be shocked. He took the cup and asked them a lot of questions, but both of them didn’t reply every single question. They insisted to take the price from the headmaster. Kiyoteru-sensei became confuse. Actually, he gave an order without thinking about the risks. He offered the big price without unknowing what will be given, and unfortunately, he had nothing right at that moment. No money. No medal. No goblet. It was nothing.

“How careless...” Kaito mumbled. Miku stepped on his foot. Really, she thought Kaito was a good man, but he was unfathomable.

“Okay, listen my students,” Kiyoteru-sensei took a deep breath, “I don’t have anything to give to you, so-”

“It can’t be helped, we will take the cup bac-“ Kaito tried to say a word, but Miku interrupted his words,

“No, it’s surely yours Sensei,” said Miku.

“By the way, it is really hot around here,” Kaito took the cup to get some drink, but the headmaster took the teapot before Kaito did.

“What are you doing? I’m thirsty, let me drink,” Kaito tried to get the teapot. Miku shook her head to see their behavior. They weren’t looked like a headmaster and a student.

“Let me drink or I'm not going to give this cup to you!”

“No, no, no! You're not going to do that,”

“Then let me drink first!”

“No way if I let you drink with that magic cup!”

Miku sharpened her hearing. Did she just hear ‘magic cup’? Kaito and Miku stared each other. Kiyoteru-sensei covered his face with his hands. Miku took the cup from Kaito and observed the cup, but it was just a cup somehow. Kiyoteru-sensei scratched his head. He had already said it.

“It’s just a cup,” Miku said.

“No, no, no, it’s a magic cup! I-I mean... yes, it’s just a cup!” Kiyoteru-sensei stuttered. Miku and Kaito started to distrust him. They looked at him with a sharp glare.

“It-it’s dirty, you must wash it before you drink, and I’m not going to let my students drink by a dirty cup,” Kiyoteru-sensei tried to argue. Kaito shook his head. He said he had already washed it when he was waiting for Miku in the medical unit. Kaito and Miku stared each other. Kiyoteru-sensei took the cup and gave them two tickets to the cinema which movie would be played on the next two weeks. Miku looked at the ticket. ‘What is this?’ Miku asked inwardly, ‘He has promised to give a big price, and look what we got?’

“Excuse me; could you please give us another price? This price is not even suitable to be called as a price!” Kaito said.

“I will give you something another time, so just keep it and get away from now!”

The word ‘magic cup’ still stayed on Miku's head. Was it true? It had been three days since she found the cup. She had read a lot of books about the fairy tales of the magic cup. The book said that a magic cup could fulfill any wishes. Anyone could ask everything they wanted after drinking from the cup. Miku kept thinking about that. She started to think to ‘borrow’ the cup. It would be great if that tiny cup could make her dreams come true. She didn’t think anything but to ‘borrow’ the cup. Just like at the moment, she was still at the outside of the headmaster room. She looked inside through the window. Kiyoteru-sensei wasn’t there. All of the teachers were in a meeting. Good, but she needed to find the key to come in first. She looked around to find another way out. Gotcha! She saw an opened window. She passed her gaze around. After ensuring that there is no one who saw her, she went inside. She searched everywhere possible, but she couldn’t find the cup. Shoot, it had been 30 minutes since her coming there. She had to find it soon. She tried to search in a vase near the door, and she found it! She didn’t want to waste her time, so she took a teapot and pour it into the cup. She took a deep breath before drinking the water. She stated her wish in her heart while smiling. After that, she took the cup with her. It was time to go to the class because the meeting was about to be over. She went out of the office. She didn’t realize that she was being spied by someone.

“This is bad!” Kiyoteru-sensei scratched his head. He lost the cup. He surely put the cup in the vase, but it had gone. It was impossible that the cup went by itself. Suddenly, he remembered that only Kaito and Miku were the ones who knew about the magic cup. He called them immediately.

Miku was in front of her locker when she heard her name was called. She was about to put the cup into her locker, but wait. She couldn’t find the cup in her bag! She was perfectly sure that she put the cup in her bag right after she came back to the class, but it had gone. It should be in her bag. Where else might it be? When she was in panic, Kaito appeared from the corridor.

“What are you doing? You are called to the office,” he said.

“I can’t go now!” she replied in panic, “I-I have to look for something, so I can’t go,”

“Is that so important? You need help?” Kaito offered her an aid. Miku raised her left brow. What was it all about? Why he was so nice to her? He was so abominable before today. Whatever, she had to find the cup first!

“Just tell Kiyoteru-sensei that I have to do something!” said Miku while walking away from him. Kaito frowned. There’s something strange, his inner said.

Miku arrived at her class. She searched for the cup everywhere, but she couldn’t find it. She kept searching until she felt tired. She took a deep breath,

“Why is this happened to me? Why I have to borrow the cup and make a mess like this? What if someone use it to do the crime?!” she reproved at herself.

“So, that’s the problem!”

She heard a voice. She was very surprised, it was Kaito! Did he hear my words? Miku’s inner asked. Kaito came near her and stood right in front of her.

“So, you are the one who stole the cup? It’s too bad for a thief to be robbed by another thief,” Kaito asked. Miku scratched her head. She had no idea how to argue his words. Well, because he was right. She just ‘borrowed without permission’ which meant ‘stole’ the cup.

“It was an accident! I just borrowed it, and I swear I saved the cup in my bag, but it was gone!” said Miku. Kaito sighed. He recalled their meeting in the office a few days ago. The ones who knew about the magic cup were only Miku, Kiyoteru-sensei and himself. Who else might it be?

“Then I’m sure someone had eavesdropped to our conversation,”

Miku and Kaito stared each other. They had to tell the headmaster about this serious problem.

They went to the headmaster room and entered the room. They were very shocked to see their headmaster collapsed on the floor while holding a paper. It was written there: ‘Anyone who is seeing me like this, please don’t call ambulance or something, I just need a boy and a girl named Kaito and Miku to be here.’ Kaito and Miku looked at their pathetic headmaster.

“Sensei, we’ve already here,” said Kaito.

“Really?!” Kiyoteru-sensei got up straightaway, “Do you know about the cup’s whereabouts?”

Kaito and Miku shook their head. Kaito told Kiyoteru-sensei that the cup was stolen by another people who eavesdropped to their conversation about the magic cup, and it must be very hard to find who the thief was. With a very uneasy feeling, the headmaster told his story about the magic cup. Why the cup was so important and valuable. He told about the consequences of using the cup. After making a wish, the wish maker had to fulfill the remuneration. It was not easy. They had to pass one week in a bad luck. Miku opened her eyes widely. A bad luck? Kaito and Miku stared each other.

“Sensei, actually... I was the one who borrowed your cup, but lately...” Miku stared at Kaito.

“The cup itself was stolen by another person,” Kaito added.

Kiyoteru-sensei gaped for a long time. He didn’t expect that Miku would do something like that, and it looked like that she was helped by Kaito. Kaito knew what was being thought by Kiyoteru-sensei, so he explained things from the beginning since he knew that Miku was the one who stole the cup. After a long discussion, Kiyoteru-sensei decided to keep Kaito and Miku together with him. Three of them had to find the way to catch the thief. Starting from today, they had six more days to go. This was an arcane mission, so they had to be careful. Kiyoteru-sensei gave them a dispensation for not joining the class activity for one week. Miku and Kaito knew it was crazy, but they had to find that dangerous magic cup as soon as possible.

The first mission was started. Miku and Kaito went around the school, checked if something went wrong with people. A strange thing started to happen. When they walked to the library, Miku didn’t see the ‘wet-floor’ sign, so she just walked on the slick floor. She was almost slipped if Kaito didn’t catch her. Another strange thing was when they went to the school’s auditorium by crossing the infield. They never expected there would be a ball coming from behind since there was no one who was playing basketball. The ball was about to hit Miku’s head, but Kaito covered her with his body, so the ball hit his head.

“Kaito!” Miku yelled.

“Are you okay?!” someone shouted while running toward them. Kaito shook his head. His sight became unclear, but he was still conscious. That was a very strong hit. Miku thought it was her fault. She dragged him into this. Kiyoteru-sensei saw the accident from the distance and called Miku to bring him to the medical unit.

Today’s mission was over with Kaito hurt on the head. Miku felt guilty about the things happened today. She never expected that the cup would bring sort of calamity to her and even to the people around her. Therefore, she decided to stay away from Kaito and Kiyoteru-sensei. From the next days on, she would try not to meet and talk with them. It might be the only way.

It went good. She didn’t see the strange things happened to Kaito, but her days became worse. On the second day, she lost her shoes, so she had to wear sandal to go home. On the third day, she was chased by a wild dog along the way home. On the fourth day, she got scolded by her seniors because she was caught of spying on them. On the fifth day, she thought she found the thief. When she walked to the medical unit to take a rest, she saw a girl with the long pink hair entered the medical unit while hiding something. Miku kept her gaze on her. She recognized the girl. She was Luka-senpai. Miku thought it was impossible if Luka was the one who stole the cup. When she was about to greet Luka, she saw Kaito was walking toward her. Kaito accosted her with a charming greet. Miku looked grim at once. Getting upset, she walked toward them.

“Hello, Luka-senpai,” Miku greeted Luka. It was polite to add ‘-senpai’ right after their senior’s first name. Luka just smiled to her.

“What are you doing here?” Kaito asked Miku in a bothered tone. Miku frowned at him. What’s his problem? Something is getting weird here, Miku’s inner said. Miku looked at Luka as if she distrusted her. It might be... Miku looked at her hands. She was right, Luka was hiding something. Miku started her plan.

“Okay then, have a nice day, bye!” Miku clapped Luka’s shoulder. Suddenly, a cup was dropped from Luka’s back. Luckily, the cup wasn’t broken. Miku and Kaito stared each other. Kaito picked up the cup.

“Is it...?” Miku asked,

“Yeah, this is the cup,” Kaito looked at Luka, “Luka-senpai, are you-”

“I just borrowed it,” Luka interrupted Kaito’s words, “From Miku,” she pointed at Miku.

“That’s not the problem Luka-senpai! How many times have you drunk from this cup?” Miku asked.

“Several times,” Luke replied,

“Have you heard the con-“

“I know the consequences,” Luka said. She stared at Kaito, “I did it just because I want Kaito to stay away from you,”

“Me?” Kaito pointed at himself. Miku was surprised. Did she like Kaito? Miku looked at Kaito whose face was blushing as well. Luka’s wish had made her plan went well. Miku remembered at the first time, she decided not to meet and talk with Kaito, and it went well. She never met and talked with Kaito, but she watched him in the distance.

“By any chance, we have to return it to the headmaster!” Miku took the cup from Kaito. Then she ran away. Kaito was trailing after her, leaving Luka who was speechless.

Right on the stairs to the headmaster room, Miku was slipped. The cup was thrown to the air. It was heading the little fountain near the stairs. Kaito was unable to reach both of Miku and the cup because he was still too far from them. Miku didn’t let the cup broken, she jumped to the air and caught the cup, but she fell to the fountain. As the result, her uniform became wet.

“Are you okay? Come here and quickly!” Kaito gave his a hand. Miku gripped his hand.

“Good grief! Now you are all wet! What are you doing? Are you still a moron?! You could’ve let it-“

“You saved me! You saved my life!” someone yelled. Miku and Kaito passed their gaze around, but they couldn’t find anyone there. Then, something came up from the cup. Miku and Kaito couldn’t believe what had they seen. It was a fairy! She was flying over Miku’s head.

“Who are you?” Kaito asked to the fairy.

“I’m Rin! And I’m the guardian of this cup!” the fairy replied, “I’m the one who set your calamity,”

Miku put Rin on her palms, “Are you really a fairy?” she asked. Rin nodded,

“I can remove your calamity. You drank from this cup, didn’t you?” Rin asked.

“Yes, yes! Then, I still have two days in calamity, you can remove it now!” Miku said excitedly. Rin shook her head.

“I have a condition,” Rin said, “If you want to be free from your calamity, you have to be honest with yourself and tell what you’ve wished,”

“What?” Miku was shocked. She had to be honest in front of someone she was in love with?!

“Do it now if you want to be free from your calamity,” Rin said. Miku’s face turned red straightaway.

“What is it about?! I don’t want to miss this!” Kiyoteru-sensei came from his room, “Rin? Is that you?” Kiyoteru-sensei came near Miku and Kaito. Rin was smiled to him,

“Yo!”

“What happened?” Kiyoteru-sensei asked. Rin told him everything, and the best part was on Miku. Rin told him that Miku would telll her wish. Kaito, Kiyoteru-sensei and Rin stared at her as if they wanted to eat her. No!

“No, no, no! Why have I to be honest in front of these people?!” Miku asked Rin. Rin shrugged her shoulders. She said if there weren’t any other people, she could just tell Rin about her wish, but at that time, there were standing Kaito and Kiyoteru-sensei in front of her.

Miku took a deep breath. She had to be honest in front of Kiyoteru-sensei, Rin, and Kaito himself.

“I wished...” Miku started her words. Kaito looked at her as if he expected something from her words.

“I wished that Kaito would fall in love with me!” she yelled loudly. One minute left in a silence. She was pretty sure that her face was red. In another minute, Rin, Kaito and Kiyoteru-sensei laughed at her. What is so funny? Her inner asked.

“You know what Miku? Deceitful doesn’t worth anything, you have to gain your own ability to reach what you want, that’s why I made the calamity,” Rin said, “To help them to reach their dreams with the worse way which will make them stronger to face the truth,”

Miku nodded. She had been free. She looked at Kaito who was smiling at her.

“Excuse me,” Luka appeared behind Miku. Rin recognized Luka.

“I want to ask you-“

“You have been free from your calamity, Luka,” Rin interrupted Luka’s words. She nodded and thanked Rin. Then, she saw Miku and Kaito and walked near them.

“So, tell me Kaito, which one will you choose, Miku or Luka?” Rin asked Kaito. Luka and Miku stared each other with blushing face. Kaito froze on his feet standing. Rin and Kiyoteru-sensei laughed at him.

“I have to go now, there will be a sunset,” Rin said while looking at her friends’ face one by one. There were Kiyoteru-sensei, Miku, Luka, and Kaito. They went to the beach to say goodbye to Rin. The fairy’s family had been waiting for Rin.

“I will miss you,” said Miku. Rin gave her a kiss on the cheek. Then she left after saying goodbye to her friends. After that, the cup was no longer a magic cup. Miku asked Kiyoteru-sensei why Rin didn’t bring the cup with her. Then, Kiyoteru-sensei told a story. Before Rin became the cup guardian, she was a naughty fairy. She caused many troubles for her family, so she was punished to guard a cup.

“So, the magic cup is only a cup for now,” Kaito said. Miku nodded. They stared each other for a long moment until Luka came and crushed everything.

“You’re not supposed to get close to each other, Kaito, Miku,” Luka showed her ominous aura, “Let’s get the party started!”

“What party?” Miku and Kaito asked.

“Come on!” Kiyoteru-sensei waved his hand in front of a roaster. Miku, Kaito and Luka ran to Kiyoteru-sensei to help him prepared the food. Today, they had a lot of fun, and it was a really good day.

Fin.