[MashUp] Ch 22: Symphony of Water

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When Takuma's figure vanished from the balcony, the suffocating pressure vanished with him.

Air began to move again.

But his last words still echoed like oil on a wildfire, igniting the silence of the courtyard into a roaring blaze.

"Puh—!"

Moffle shot up from the ground, eyes bloodshot. "I'm in!"

"Damn it, I'll just do it!"

He spun in a circle, shouting to his comrades who were just as shaken awake.

"Princess Latifa staked everything on that man! And he swore he'll prove it in just one month!"

"So what the hell are we afraid of?!"

"YEAHH!"

Wanipee, the blue crocodile, slammed his thick tail into a boulder, shattering it, and roared.

"We're dead either way! Better to go down like men!"

His words lit a fire in the eyes of Muse, the water fairy.

"Not just for ourselves! But for Her Highness!"

Muse raised her staff high, her clear voice ringing with resolve.

Tiramy licked his paw, eyes cold and feral. "Then… let's crush every last piece of trash that's defiled Her Highness's park!"

In an instant, all six hundred fairies moved like an army injected with adrenaline.

Moffle thrust out his hand, pointing to the central plaza.

"Start from the basics! Clean this entire square till it shines!"

"Hell yeah!"

"Charge!"

"Dedicate Your Heart!"

Driven by desperation and reckless courage, they swarmed the park's warehouses, grabbing every mop, bucket, and bottle of detergent they could find, and launched a full-scale assault on the plaza.

Half an hour later…

The park had descended into an even bigger disaster.

Hundreds of fairies scrubbed like mad, mops squeaking against the ground.

But the filth that had built up over twenty years was already fused with the stone tiles. Their frantic efforts only smeared the grime further.

Worse, some tried using hoses. But one burst an ancient pipe, unleashing a flood of black, reeking water that drenched everyone head to toe.

"It's useless, Moffle!"

Macaron collapsed, his snow-white fur stained gray-black, looking like he wanted to cry.

"My fur's about to fall off, and the more we clean the dirtier it gets!"

Tiramy snapped his broken mop in half, panting hard. "If just the plaza is this bad, then with a million square meters to go, forget sunrise—we couldn't finish in a year!"

Despair spread like cold seawater, drowning out the fragile spark of hope.

---

Meanwhile, on the sixth floor of Maple Castle…

Princess Latifa had fallen into deep sleep, exhausted both physically and emotionally.

Takuma leaned casually against the railing, gazing down at the pathetic scene of six hundred failures.

Behind him, Isuzu's face turned pale as she watched.

"T-Takuma!"

"It's hopeless! They… they can't do it at all! If this keeps up, their morale will completely collapse!"

"Collapse?"

Takuma let out a quiet laugh. "No, this is what we call breaking them down… so they can be rebuilt."

He turned and with one finger tilted her chin up, forcing her to meet his eyes.

"Their pathetic pride has been ground to dust. That's the only way I can pour something new into them."

A sly curve tugged at his lips. "Come on, my secretary."

"Lesson one, Ignite Hope, is over."

"Now it's time for lesson two—"

"Bring Down a Miracle."

...

Deep beneath the park, in the sprawling maze of underground pipelines…

Two small electric carts rumbled through the dim service tunnels.

The front was driven by Wrench-kun, the Chief of Engineering of Amagi Brilliant Park..

In the back cart, Isuzu sat stiff as a board at the wheel.

Takuma lounged beside her, one large hand resting casually on her silk-clad thigh, idly stroking.

Yesterday, she would have drawn her magic rifle on him without hesitation.

Now… she couldn't.

Her mind was chaos.

On one hand, she couldn't deny her admiration. In just a few words, he had turned six hundred useless slackers into an army burning with willpower.

But on the other, the disaster reports scrolling across her wrist terminal made her stomach churn with dread.

And here he was, calm as ever, studying the master blueprint of the park while glancing between pipes and diagrams—sometimes even pausing to knock lightly on a massive line, then closing his eyes against her thighs as though listening

Through the vision of his [Housekeeping Template Lv.3], the underground network wasn't dead steel. It was a living giant, a body of veins and arteries. Every rusted joint, every clog stood out to him as clearly as scars.

Isuzu couldn't stand the silence any longer. Forcing herself to ignore his playful hand on her leg, she asked, breath tight: "Takuma… what's your plan?"

"Everyone up there… they're already close to breaking."

"That's why this is the second lesson," he replied calmly. "Teaching them how to turn despair into miracles."

He lifted the radio and called to the front cart.

"Wrench-kun, listen carefully. If I told you I plan to use the entire park's water system to wash all one million square meters like a giant washing machine…"

"What would you say?"

Silence—then Wrench-kun's panicked roar crackled through the radio.

"Are you fucking insane?!"

The cart screeched to a halt.

"That would trigger a pressure surge! Every old pipe would explode at once! The whole park would flood! That's suicide!"

"That's how you would use it," Takuma said, pressing his fingertip lightly into Isuzu's thigh. She jolted at the touch.

"And what I need isn't a blind flood."

"What I want is precision. A symphony of water… played by six hundred hands."

When the three of them returned to the surface, six hundred pairs of dead eyes awaited.

Takuma didn't scold. Instead, he clapped his hands slowly.

"Good."

"You showed me determination. Stupid execution, sure, but the resolve was real."

He turned to Triken, the Chief of Sales.

"Go to the office. Bring me six hundred radios. Distribute one to everyone."

---

(Image)

→ A. Sorcerer's Hill

→ B. Wild Valley

→ C. Splash Ocean

→ D. Astro City

→ E. Etcet Land

→ F. Waterpark

(Each zone is full of attractions, each attraction led by fairy performers.)

---

Five minutes later, every fairy held a radio.

Then, under orders, they were sent into position throughout the underground tunnels.

Takuma, accompanied by Isuzu, the yellow Triceratops, Triken, and a handful of sales staff, climbed to the fourth-floor observatory of Maple Castle.

There they set up cameras, tripods, and heavy recording equipment.

"Get your gear online. Calibrate it. Don't miss a single second of what's about to happen."

Finally, Takuma lifted the master radio. His voice thundered through the underground.

"All units, check in."

"Copy, this is Zone A-1."

"Copy, this is…"

Ten minutes later, with every team accounted for, he gave the first order.

"Zone A-1—Moffle, Macaron, Tiramy. Open the main valve in front of you."

Deep in Zone A, Moffle stared at a rusted valve the size of his body. His voice cracked through the radio.

"Open… the valve? Are you trying to drown us?!"

"Execute the order," Takuma's voice cut like steel.

Moffle gritted his teeth. "Damn it, fine!"

BOOM!

A massive surge of water burst from the ground in Zone A. But before anyone could cheer, the radio crackled with Tiramy's panicked scream.

"This is bad!"

"The pressure in Zone A is too high!"

"Zone B's pipes are groaning! They're about to blow!"

Up at the castle's temporary command tower, Isuzu and the others went pale.

This wasn't a miracle—it was a disaster in the making.

Yet Takuma's expression didn't shift an inch. His tone remained calm, almost indifferent.

"Zone C, number five. Water fairy, Muse. You hear that wailing in Zone B? Find the blue pipeline. Channel a reverse surge of water into it—exactly three seconds, no more, no less."

"Zone D, number twelve. Jaw. Your turn. On my mark—three, two, one—use your tail and smash down the wall marked 'No Entry.'"

"Zone A, number one. Moffle! Rotate the valve thirty degrees left, now!"

Three commands. Impossible, contradictory.

And then—

RUMBLE!

The wall in Zone D shattered, giving the raging flood an outlet to escape straight into the breach!

Meanwhile, the pipe in Zone B—seconds away from exploding—suddenly stabilized under Muse's reverse water flow. The excess pressure redirected perfectly into the mainline.

One flow cut, another redirected. One block, one release.

Three looming disasters… neutralized. Transformed into power that drove the water system forward instead.

The radio fell silent, then erupted with shouts of disbelief.

Takuma, unmoved, fired off more orders like clockwork.

"Zone E, number three—open the valve."

"Zone F, number nine—seal the drain on your left."

"All units in Zone A—counterclockwise, ninety degrees, now!"

And then—the true miracle happened.

Across the park, every fountain erupted at once.

Not a chaotic flood. Not destruction.

The water converged, drawn as if by invisible hands.

Until it formed—

A colossal whirlpool, swallowing the entire amusement park.

ROOOOAR!

A water cyclone, kilometers wide, spun with terrifying speed. Yet under Takuma's unseen command, it avoided every foundation and structure, surging only against the filth and grime buried deep in the park.

The crew at the castle stared slack-jawed, petrified.

Three hours later, as sunset painted the sky, the fairies returned to the ground.

They blinked in disbelief.

The ancient stains, the dust, the pitch-black dirt—gone.

What greeted them instead was a dazzling, sparkling paradise, glowing beneath the evening light.

Thump.

Someone fell to their knees.

Then another. And another.

Until all six hundred fairies bowed as one, their reverence pouring toward the figure atop the castle.

Takuma looked down lazily, his face unreadable.

He turned toward the frozen film crew. "Got enough footage?"

"Y-yeah… more than enough!"

"Good."

His eyes slid to Salama, the fire fairy.

"I've been watching you since noon. You're good at social media. Upload the video. Put your followers to use."

Salama's heart jolted. Even in the chaos, Takuma had noticed every detail.

Then Takuma addressed the crew again.

"You. Create an official account. Call it {Maple Land Entertainment}."

"Edit the video. Add the most tragic epic soundtrack you can find."

"For the title, use this—"

"{We Can't Pretend Anymore: The Shocking Truth Behind the Ruin.}"

"I want it online within three hours."

With that, Takuma yawned, as if the whole ordeal had been nothing more than a chore. The sun dipped lower—time to head back.

He pulled a thin booklet from his pocket and tossed it behind him.

It landed neatly in Isuzu's hands. She glanced down at the cover: {The Janitors Code — Monkey Version.}

Takuma's voice echoed over the radios one last time.

"The rest—metal polishing, rust removal, the fine details—it's all in there."

He paused, then added, almost lazily: "I simplified the steps so much… even a monkey could follow them."

"With your magic, finishing before sunrise tomorrow is the bare minimum."

"And if by then I see even a single spot below standard…"

He chuckled, the sound sharp enough to send shivers through every fairy.

"…then go jump in the pool and treat yourselves like trash."

Without another glance at the kneeling crowd, he started down the stairs.

That's when Isuzu heard it—

"Not bad."

The low murmur of praise. She froze.

"Contact the finance minister," Takuma continued, never slowing.

"Take whatever's left of the budget. Tonight, everyone eats well."

A beat. His tone shifted to disdain. "Looking at their malnourished faces, I'd hate for my new toys to fall apart before opening day."

"Of course—once they're stuffed, drag them back here to work."

The words carried care, yet wrapped in arrogance, as if thrown like scraps.

Isuzu's chest tightened. She snapped to attention, voice firm. "Yes, sir!"

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