Chapter 1:
Disclaimers: Kamen Rider Gaim and Happiness Charge Pretty Cure! are both the property of the Toei Company Ltd.. All associated characters belong to Toei as well.
I am not familiar with Japanese geography, so if choosing Osaka as a location for an alibi was somehow a terrible idea, then I apologize.
I am also not familiar with what social work actually entails, so if you are a social worker who feels that your line of work has been grossly misrepresented in any way, then I apologize as well.
Expect this to be updated about as often as A Song of Ice and Fire.
It was a fairly typical scene at the Aino apartment. After a long week of school, Megumi was ready to relax and have dinner with her mother, Kaori, who always seemed to be in better spirits with each passing day. Seiji Sagara and his little sister, Mao, were there, of course, as their mother had gone on yet another business trip. It was Friday, so she wouldn't be back until late at night on Sunday.
"Are you excited about our trip tomorrow?" Megumi asked Seiji. Said camping trip was something that the two had been planning for weeks, along with their friends Hime Shirayuki, Yuko Omori, and Iona Hikawa. It is also worth mentioning that "trip" in this case actually meant a journey to another world, but as two civilians were currently in the dining room, that couldn't be mentioned casually.
"Yes, of course." Seiji replied nonchalantly. He seemed more interested in wolfing down everything on the table faster than humanly possible. This was one of the many things that Megumi liked about Seiji, but she kept that to herself.
"So, where exactly are you two going?" Kaori asked.
"Oh! Er…" Megumi paused. She just realized that she had never actually thought about what she would tell her mother if she had asked that question. Thinking these things through was never one of her strong points.
Seiji swallowed and said calmly, "We're going to Osaka to visit Hime's aunt and uncle. They're going to pick us up at her place." This wasn't far from the truth, actually. They WERE in fact going to see relatives of Hime's. But not her aunt and uncle, and in a place much farther away than Osaka. More specifically, they were going to see Hime's parents in the Blue Sky Kingdom.
"Oh, I see." Kaori replied. "Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever met Hime's parents. Is she alright?" (Megumi nearly choked on her rice when her mother said this, though thankfully no one noticed except Seiji).
"They're in America," Seiji quickly responded. "Hime's living with her cousin right now." In this case, "cousin" actually meant Hime's fairy partner, Ribbon. "And her cousin is pretty busy with school and stuff, so she's not exactly in a sociable mood at the moment." Seiji knew that this was a pretty paper-thin lie; he and Megumi both secretly prayed that Ribbon had a human form, like another fairy friend of theirs, PhanPhan, so that she could pass as Hime's "cousin" if the need ever arose.
Kaori just stared at Seiji blankly for what seemed like hours. Finally she smiled again and said, "I see. Well, if you see this cousin of hers again, tell her that studying too much isn't good for her health." Megumi sighed. She and Seiji looked at each other for a moment, and both smiled a little, though only they could see it. Megumi hated lying to her mother like this, but if anyone figured out the truth about her and her friends, her life would become that much more complicated. That was where Seiji came in. Seiji, you are ever so reliable, Megumi thought to herself. She was lucky to have a friend like him.
"Wow. Hime's parents in America," Mao mused. "It makes me think big brother and I are lucky that mom is actually with us half of the time."
"Doesn't it?" Kaori continued, "And speaking of your mother, you never did tell us, where exactly is she going this weekend?"
Seiji responded again, "I believe she said she was going to Zawame City …"
Mitzusane Kureshima, known to his friends as Micchy, could not find much occasion to dance in recent days. Of course, the fact that his hometown of Zawame City was still recovering from the devastation of the events of the previous year was enough to get most to lose their spirits, but while most of the city's youth were able to keep hope alive through recreational dancing, Micchy bore a much greater burden than anyone else. In addition to the events themselves, Micchy also had to live with the fact that he had betrayed his friends, his brother, and the girl he loved, and ended up with nothing to show for it except a ruined city and his two best friends gone to a distant planet, presumably never to return.
As if this wasn't enough, the one thing that he could do that nobody else could, which was transform into the Armored Rider Ryugen through the use of his Sengoku Driver, was not an action which was particularly useful now that all the Inves that had previously terrorized the populace were gone. Once again, his only option was to follow in the footsteps of his older brother, Takatora, the fate that he had so wanted to avoid. Micchy didn't see how he could ever hope again, since his actions only seemed to bring misery to everyone, himself especially.
"Remember to dress nicely for the meeting tomorrow," Takatora commanded. "We may be struggling, but we must not let the outside world forget that we still have our pride." Easy for you to say, Micchy thought. But he did as he was told; any time that he was doing just that was the only time anything seemed to go right for him.
The next morning, the Yggadrasil Corporation met with a social worker from Pikarigaoka. Takatora discussed the renovation effort of Zawame City with Hiroko Sagara, who would arrange to provide Zawame with precious resources such as food, construction workers and nurses. Once again, all Micchy did was watch and listen.
After the meeting, Hiroko decided a snack would do her good, and so settled herself down in Charmant, the pastry shop owned by Oren Pierre Alfonzo. "Ah, an outside visitor!" Oren stated in his typical overblown manner. "We don't see too many of those nowadays! One does miss the wonder of a fresh new face!" While saying all this, Oren made a bunch of elaborate hand gestures that a mime would find excessive. A bemused Hiroko placed her order, paid her cash, and sat down outside to eat. In order to keep his first new customer since the great Helheim disaster company, Oren joined her.
"So where are you from, my lovely lady, and what brings you to a dump such as this city?" Oren asked.
"I'm from Pikarigaoka, a city south of here," Hiroko replied. "I'm a social worker, and I just got finished with a meeting discussing this city's future."
"Ah! I see!" Oren exclaimed. "It's wonderful to see that some people in this world really do care!" Oren said this while raising his arms like a Shakespearean actor.
Hiroko laughed a little to herself again. She liked this strange man. If anything, he had certainly given her something to tell Seiji and Mao when she returned to Pikarigaoka.
"Would you like some water with that, Miss?" Another voice sounded. Hiroko nodded and responded, "Yes, please." A comparatively solemn-faced young boy wearing glasses complied and poured a glass of water for Hiroko.
"Ah, yes! You haven't met my apprentice! This is Junouchi Hideyasu!" Oren patted Junouchi on the back as he introduced him.
"Thank you for visiting, madame," Jounichi bowed, and left to attend to other affairs.
"Oh, what a polite young man he is!" Hiroko smiled again.
"Yes, it does seem that the older you get, the less considerate you become," Oren mused. "Why, without the youth of this city keeping our hopes up, I don't think any of us could have made it through."
He gestured across the street, where a sizeable number of adolescents were partaking in a break dance regimen. Unlike almost every other face that Hiroko had seen at Zawame so far, theirs seemed positively bright and cheerful. "As I've always said, never underestimate the power of smiling youngsters!"
Hiroko nodded, "You're not doing so bad yourself, you know."
Oren beamed, and dramatically flipped the scarf he was wearing behind his back. "Why yes, I do know that!" he proclaimed.
Hiroko laughed. "Those kids really remind me of the Pretty Cure all over the world, keeping hope alive against the Saiarks," she said.
"Ah… what is this Pretty Cure of which you speak?" Oren inquired, "Pardon my ignorance, but outside news has flown past Zawame in the past few months."
"Oh, of course!" Hiroko answered, "They're a group of girls with all sorts of amazing powers. Recently there was an invasion from an outside force called the Phantom Empire. They were ruthless in their determination to destroy everyone's happiness, but the Pretty Cure were always there to save everyone until the end."
"Is that so?" Oren struck up an exaggerated thinking pose now, complete with fingers stroking his chin, "I used to be a powered individual myself, you know!"
And so the two continued conversing, with Oren elaborating on his exploits with the Armored Riders and his role in stopping the Helheim invasion, which was substantially larger in his imagination than in reality. Hiroko, in turn, talked about the Pretty Cure, and their bravery in facing off the invasion from the Phantom Empire.
"And the best part is, Japan's Pretty Cure team, the Happiness Charge Pretty Cure, is right where I live, in Pikarigaoka!" Hiroko felt more relaxed than she had been in months. She was glad that she had decided to have a bite at Charmant.
Meanwhile, Junouchi was refilling the coffee of the mysterious man wearing a fedora in such a manner that most of his face was covered in shadow. He had crept in shortly after Hiroko had, and Junouchi was serving him, although he only seemed interested in staring at his newspaper, which Junouchi had noticed was actually from last week.
When Junouchi had left to get more coffee, the mysterious figure peered over the top of his paper at the lively conversation occurring at the table on the far side. The mention of the Happiness Charge Pretty Cure had intrigued him…