She was the dojo grandmaster's daughter who was eager to learn as many forms of self-defense as she can. She was also the only girl in all the martial arts classes my parents signed me up: Kendo, Shorinji Kenpo, Aikido, and Judo. She was the only girl in a family of four children--- third-born out of four. She was also the only girl through my sixteen years of life who I trained with closely. She was six, I was seven, and we have been training partners, rivals, but most of all, best friends.

She was not particularly the best-looking girl the entire class. She was not exactly every practitioner's favorite, except for her grandfather, our grandmaster, and her older brother, who happens to be my senior and also one of my best friends.  She did not have that many friends and only spoke to her brothers and eventually me. She was the daughter of a great police detective, which was probably another reason why many of the kids avoid her. Was it because of fear? Intimidation? Or was it that she was just unattractive. There was nothing wrong with her in terms of looks, at least to me. If that was the case, why did she have a hard time making more friends?

She taught me the mysteries of life in general and the environment we live in by giving me certain experiences I've never imagined. She invited me to hang around the town's beach and collect little shells from the sakuragai oyster shells to mini-conch shells. She even invited me to go to the library and read children's mystery books from the Detective Conan manga series to the old Encyclopedia Brown book series (translated in Japanese, of course). Sometimes she would drag me along the local karaoke bar to sing cheesy and girly pop songs to softcore R&B and Hip-hop with occassional random rapping. And every time we would eat lunch in school or eat snacks after martial arts classes at the dojo, she would even start reciting some strange yet witty poetry about her lunch or the snack she was about to eat. Those were always enjoyable to me because every time I listened to her clever food poetry that somehow it only made my own lunch taste really good and very tempting.

Aside from that, we always found ourselves being partners in martial arts. We were even considered the favorite tag team of Kendo, Shorinji Kenpo, Aikido, and Judo, including the grandmaster himself. Even when it was during sparring period, it was always her and me, using all our wit, our skills, our concentration, and our power to battle each other to see which one of us was the strongest. Even if each of us had won some sparring matches, neither of us felt any sort of victory from each other, but moreso on draws than wins or losses. Regardless, we were truly satisfied with our training. That also included those two-minute mysteries, puzzles, and riddles that we discovered at the children's section of the library one time, where we also rivaled and tested our wits and match against each other. Like martial arts sparring, we mainly reached to more draws.

I thought our fun and crazy times together would last forever. I thought we would never separate, not even by ranking or by skill level, not just in martial arts but everything in general. I thought that no one--- that is, no one we're not close to--- would ever stand in our way. But as reality goes, everything must come to an end.

After she left, there was no other girl I would even be close with, even if it was just a friendship. After she left, I immediately closed my heart to any girl who declared their love to me, simply because most girls underaged have no idea what love really was. After she left, I reserved my heart, knowing deep within that she would come back again. But somehow the more I isolated myself from them, the more these girls seem to get a lot more attracted towards me.

With the influence of her older brother who remained in town, I was influenced in to the performing arts. I was influenced in to getting in the idol show business. Sure, it was hard work but I had a lot of fun, especially that I was not alone. At one point, another girl came in my life. She seemed rather lost at first but I admitted to myself that her beauty was completely captivating. Just one look and you already find your heart already held in captivity by her. For the first time in six years or so, I found myself completely drawn to her.

This new girl was gentle, kind, and somewhat vulnerable. She was one of those girls who needed a strong man to protect her, keep her safe, from any form of harm, even if it was just verbal harm. She also found me captivating just by the way she acted around me, but I cannot say for sure if she had the same feelings for me in return. Besides, we were still young--- she was thirteen and I was fourteen--- and rushing things while you are young is never a good thing. Not only that, she and I were both teen idol celebrities, which means that our lives, both public and private, will always been an open book. Fan girls (and fan boys?) would spot us and chase after us, screaming our names, declaring their obsessive love for us; and then there are the meddling Paparazzi who would get everything on the way to take the most intimate pictures they can take of us. Not to mention the tabloid media who would write as much garbage as they can to earn money.

I wanted to pretend that everything was going good between her and I, but sometimes it pains me to know the fact that she had her eyes and her heart towards my senior and my best friend; the one who influenced me to become an idol. In reality, no one can control another's feelings. It is what life should always be. I have no right to tell her that she cannot have her eyes towards another whom I'm close with and I have no right to tell her who she was allowed to interact and who was not. I decided myself to shut my heart to any girl until she came to my life and I felt that she has the right to decide what was best for her.

Just as I thought that she and I were getting close to more than just friends, she brought up the subject of meeting a new friend. Good for her, I thought, as she finally made a new friend of her own. But what got me startled was the description of this new friend. Every little bit she told me sounded so familiar--- this new friend's gestures, attitude, personality. It was as if a figure of the past had returned in my life again.

Airi Horie had returned to my life. Jiyuzora's peace and prosperity had been in danger through various series of unfortunate events for the past couple of years. The police called out for the name Mei Horie to come and prevent these unfortunate events from coming by revealing the mysteries that the entire town failed to solve. I remembered my penchant for solving two-minute riddles and puzzles and wanted to test my skills to solve them before the police detectives did. It was then that I realized that I would not be able to solve them alone. I needed my childhood comrade to back me up with these unsolved mysteries. She was the only person who can match my wit and possibly the one to defeat me. At these types of situations, sometimes you would need the assistance of your own rival to do something good.

Love? Well, that can wait. When your home town is in danger with these unfortunate events, there was no time for anyone to worry about their own love lives. If I were to worry, I would say that I have two loves, even if neither of them were answered. I love the current but my heart still lingers for the first.

Right now, the people of this town need heroes. The police are overwhelmed and they too cry out for heroes would help them. Any one who wants to make a difference and actually fulfills that want and succeeds is considered a hero. Someone needs to step up--- someone who is always available every day instead of once a week. Someone who is brave enough to risk it all just to restore peace and prosperity around town.

Airi to Kappei-kun... isshoni ganbaru yo! We may not come out as winners all the time, but if we don't solve these mysteries together, then this whole town will be infested with awful things we don't want to imagine.