A.N: What is this? Episode rearrangement? Sumiko and Sora get character development? Also thanks for 1000+ views~!
Sumiko laid in her bed in her white pajama bottoms and white tank top.
She was covered up completely and sniffling could be heard around her room.
Her room suited her, a white room, white bed, white everything. Everything matched her white hair color, and that was just the way she liked it. Her laptop was OPENED up and charging on her large white table near the window. Her white iPhone was charging on the nightstand next to her bed. She just loved the color white, for reasons not even Sumiko understood.
But that wasn't the oddest part about the stoic girl's room. Even though she was under the covers of her blanket, her passionate sobs and sniffles still rang loud and clear. If one were to look at her, it would be a truly odd sight to see. Sumiko, the school brain, the robot, the stoic girl who sits in the library, the girl surrounded in mystery was crying like a baby, curled into a ball. If her friends were to see her like this, they'd probably think she was someone else.
Her father came into her room, he was tall and wore glasses, his hair was a bed head style and was brown. He looked younger than he actually was, his name was Satoru Yamada.
"Sumiko," He grimaced a little upon seeing his crying daughter. "It's time to go to school," he said in a rather gruff voice and showed little sympathy for his daughter's sobs. For whatever-reason they may be.
"Shut up!" Sumiko erupted like a volcano and hopped out of bed. Her eyes were puffy and still dripping out tears like a waterfall. "It's the anniversary of mom's death! And you don't care you...bastard!" the white haired girl screamed hysterically. She grabbed a small book off her night stand and threw it as hard as she could at her father's head. He barely dodged it and looked at her straight in the face.
"It's been three years. It's time to move on, grow up. Why don't you go back to being a robot? You seem to like doing that," her father pointed out without any kind of warmth in his voice. He seemed unfazed by Sumiko's outburst.
It was like wires connected in her head. So many emotions were going through her. Anger. Sadness. Despair, and more importantly hate. Her face turned beet red and she clenched her fist. It was like a sensory overload. What would he know? He couldn't possibly understand.
"Robot? Listen here, you! Robots don't have feelings! Robots can't cry, and don't act like I'm a robot! I don't like being a robot, but I don't want people questioning why I never talk to people! You don't understand!" Sumiko screamed. It was just like him to care more about appearances than his daughter's feelings. Sumiko couldn't believe she expected different from him. "You don't care about me! You never cared about mom either! All you care about is work and finding a new wife! I HATE YOU!" Somehow it was like her PreCure strength transferred to her regular being.
All anger she could ever feel poured out of her being like an erupting volcano. She leaped out of her best, forced Satoru out of her room, and slammed the door with all the strength she could muster. SLAM!With that, she locked it before pushing her dresser against the door. She could hear her father angrily slamming his fist on the door for her to open up. However eventually he gave up and went to work.
Sumiko calmed down and looked at a picture of her and her mom. Her mother was tall, with long, wavy snow white hair just like hers, cascading down to the small of her back. She also had green eyes like trees during the warm summer season. If one didn't know any better, one would think they were like identical twins. But just looking at this picture made more tears bubble out. There was no way Sumiko could hold them back, no matter how hard she tried.
"Mom..." More sobs and hiccuping. She fell back on her bed, with the waterworks CONTINUING.
(OP: Purikyua Story - Yukari Tamura ft. Hood)
Everyone except Mr. Hitori was silent as he took attendance to make sure everyone arrived at school.
"Wakamatsu Mitsuki?"
"Here!"
"Wakita Kouji?"
"Here!"
"Yamada Sumiko?" He called Sumiko's name like usual whenever he took attendance. However, much to his surprise, and everyone else's, Sumiko wasn't here. Taking note of this, he marked her absent on his sheet, sat down, and began asking for last night's homework. A girl from their class went around collecting everyone's worksheets.
Sora was so confused, she thought a storm was coming(1). Sumiko wasn't at school? That couldn't be right. Sumiko was the obligatory brains of their little magical girl quartet despite her stoicism. She loved school and always was at the top of the class. How could she be absent? Many worried thoughts began running through her brain like a fast moving river current. Maybe the Bad End Writers got her and were now holding her hostage? Maybe she was in the hospital?
Sora would have to wait until the end of the day. But she was going to get to the bottom of this oddity. After all, friends had to look out for friends. She made a mental note to round up the other girls later in the day.
(Title Card: Sumiko's Tears! The Stoic Girl's Lonely Heart!)
Meanwhile, in the middle school campus, it was lunch time, exactly twelve twenty nine. Kayo suddenly got a text on her phone from Sora and she nearly dropped her phone at the sight of it. Their conversation went along like this.
Sumiko isn't at school today!
What, Sumi-chan isn't there? That is soooo unlike her!
IKR?! We have to find out what happened! Remember to get Amaya if you can! *serious face*
That was the entire conversation in a nutshell, other than Otome begging her for some lobster. Now, Kayo also began to actually wonder what happened to Sumiko. She wasn't one to ditch school. Unless she absolutely had to, Sumiko never missed school at all. At least, that was how the red haired girl looked at it. But since they didn't know why she was absent, it was hard to tell. She secretly thought Sumiko was eaten by a Hydra from one of her beloved mythology books.
It was serious though, and something was absolutely amiss.
Back at Sumiko's house, she just laid around like this morning, too sad to care about anything. She had since tied her hair into a flouncy ponytail with a large white ribbon she got from her mother. However, her cries had died down and she was just curled up into the large white comforter of her bed. It was as though she wasn't even there. Physically she was, but mentally, she was lost in her own world. All she did was stare at a picture of her and her mom listlessly.
She could hear a knock at the front door but she ignored it. The white haired girl could already figure out who was at the door. She was in absolutely no mood to deal with people today, especially not them.
Suddenly, she heard some tapping on her WINDOW. Sumiko groaned before getting up and looking out the window. There was Sora, tapping on her window. "Hi, Sumiko! Can I come in?"
"Through the window? Wouldn't the door be easier?" Sumiko deadpanned, wondering if Sora was trying to rob her house. Without waiting for an answer, Sumiko opened her window and Sora tried to pull herself inside, since Sumiko's room was on the first floor. But she found herself stuck, and despite wiggling around as much as she could, she didn't budge.
"I knew I should've laid off that cheesecake." Sora sighed. Her head instantly shot up and she looked Sumiko straight into her eyes. The dirty blonde was shocked to see that the girl's eyes were red and puffy. Had she been crying? She knew her white haired comrade to be a girl of few emotions.
And sadness wasn't one of them.
"What are you doing here?" Sumiko asked, her voice more like a croak than her usual stoic voice.
"Came here to check up on my friend! Though...it would appear I have myself stuck in a jam," Sora laughed sheepishly. She knew that eating a whole cheesecake from Amaya's mothers' bakery would come back to haunt her, though she never imagined it would get her stuck in a window.
Sumiko grabbed the dirty blonde's arms and pulled her into her room. Sumiko pulled her with such force that the two fell backwards. Sora flying across the room, landing on the floor, legs up in the air. Some of Sumiko's things fell off of her night stand, clattering onto the floor because of the force of Sora's fall. Thankfully, nothing was broken. The window closed itself, thus Amaya and Kayo were stuck outside for the moment due to the simple fact that Sumiko hadn't noticed the other girls.
"So...wanna play hopscotch?" Kayo asked cocking her head to the left.
"W-why would I play hopscotch? That's a game for little kids!" Amaya stuttered looking down at the smaller girl.
"Because we're alone! My friend Otome told me there's another game called Seven Minutes in Heaven. Wanna play that?" Kayo asked, clueless to what the game actually was.
Amaya turned dark red and and shook her head from one side to another vigorously. "N-N-N-NO WAY!" she screamed putting her hands to her face. Her old friends from her old school had played that game, from what she heard. The very thought of doing it was completely appalling to her, and she wasn't about to do it with another girl.
But still, Kayo is adorable.Amaya thought as her face flared up even more.
"Why not? Don't you like me? Do you wanna play pattycake or tic-tac-toe or hangman?" Kayo asked, crocodile tears in her eyes as she wrapped her arms around Amaya's neck and attached herself to the front of the girl. For a fourteen year old girl she was more like four.
"G-G-G-G-GET OFF MEEEE!" the raven haired girl freaked out and spun around like she had been asked out on a date.
"Not until you play a game with me!" the mermaid themed girl whimpered then began crying.
"F-Fine we'll play a game...except that one other game," Amaya gave in. The red haired girl's joy bubbled over.
Unlike the Pretty Cure, as of recently, the Bad End Writers' lives were taking a turn for the worst. This was for one reason only: Princess. Their lives currently were almost as bad as Sumiko's.
At the moment, Princess was sitting on her own little extravagant throne next to King Wolf. Princess just sat there filing her fingernails that had finally dried, Magpie was silently banging her head against the wall of cement. Currently, the royal servants had begun a whole new renovation on the place. This included painting the walls a really depressive blue and gigantic splotches ink on the walls. They even put up three chandeliers that illuminated the place so much Magpie thought she might go blind.
Piggy wasn't complaining, most likely due to the fact the had been given the Twinkie he had been chasing after. He was also currently eating boxes, whole boxes, of Twinkies and cupcakes. One had to wonder how he was able to not only eat the cardboard, but to eat every single one of those Twinkies and boxes without choking, and shouldn't he be concerned about his health?
"Don't you think you've had enough?" Magpie asked.
"Are you kidding? I could eat this whole place dry!" Piggy garbled, with pieces of food falling out of his mouth.
Magpie looked away, disgusted at his complete lack of manners. "Chew with your mouth closed. Please. It's not proper," Magpie mused.
"Don't tell me what to do!" Piggy hissed before chomping on yet another whole pack of Twinkies, wrappers included.
It didn't help that everyone was just too scared to actually argue with Princess. King Wolf had tried to and unsuccessfully did so, and by this I mean he got his arm snapped by Princess with ease.
"You know what? I'm taking over the fighting plan for today! Magpie, you will be fighting today, no Yaminaa, we have twenty five more episodes to make it work!" Princess laughed like a maniac and spun around as her eyes blazed with inner fire.
Magpie quickly left, glad to not only actually fight hand-to-hand combat for once, but that she could get the heck away from annoying Princess and unreasonable Piggy. Thank God! Just looking at them was making her want to explode. She could use the Pretty Cure as the perfect outlet.
Sora sat with Sumiko on her bed and the two had been talking about this morning. At first, Sumiko didn't really want to talk about her mother's death, as it was just too painful. Plus, she really didn't want to deal with anyone. But Sora came to visit her out of her own volition just to check on her. There hadn't been many people that did that for her before. She did come all this way, and Sumiko thought it'd be rude to desecrate her kindness like that, so she decided to tell her about her mother's death, what she did to her father this morning, etc.
Sora couldn't believe what she was hearing. Sumiko's mother is dead? Sora couldn't imagine a life without a mother, nor could she picture her own mother dying. That thought was just too painful. Sumiko had it hard. She was glad Kayo and Amaya weren't here to listen to this. Amaya had been through enough pain and sorrow already. But what were Kayo and Amaya doing? Sora actually had a ship name for them, Ravemaid, though Otome had Amayo. Sora figured Ravemaid suited them better, plus had a better ring to it.
Though she had wondered when Otome had gotten on the bandwagon for AmayaxKayo. She never questioned it, as Otome was a mysterious girl. Her eyes were always covered and it gave her a very eerie feel, even sitting near her gave her the chills the few times Sora had been near her.
"I won!" Kayo giggled as she won the twelfth game of tic-tac-toe, much to Amaya's complete and utter display of dismay. How had the girl gotten so rusty in only a week? Usually she would've beaten the pants off of the girl like she did Umiko! Then again...she didn't have a crush on Umiko, but that was another story altogether.
"L-let's play a different game," Amaya spoke up, taking out her iPad from her purse and setting it down on the front porch of the large white house, which the two had since moved to as they got tired of sitting on the grass, but regardless the two began to play...Candyland. A child's game sure, but Umiko and Kayo had basically the same mindset. So it was sure to work!
As for Sora and Sumiko, the white haired girl told her bubbly friend about the explosion at the Hon Hospital, how she didn't tell her to be safe and have a good day, how indifferent her father had been toward the whole thing, how Sumiko felt as though she had caused her mother's death, everything.
"So...your mom died in that hospital explosion three years ago..." Sora trailed off before trapping Sumiko in a warm, friendly hug. Sumiko couldn't believe how warm Sora's arms were. She could feel her friend's love. "I'm sorry to hear that. Something I take for granted is having my mom and dad around. But you don't have a mom. I can call mine anytime I want and you can't do that," tears started dripping down from her face and her hand flew towards heart.
"Y-you're crying? Why?" Sumiko asked suddenly.
Sora's mother wasn't dead, so why was she crying? It was something that Sumiko had yet to see and was having a hard time analyzing it. In some ways she would admit that she was a robot. She was always analyzing things, trying to break them down and figure out everything. Someone crying even when the situation didn't concern, or even affect them? It was...new, something new she would have to PROGRAM and figure out.
"Because, sometimes me and my mom get into fights...and I storm out and tell her I don't like her and wish she would just leave me alone...but with you, you don't have a mom. You can't even say you're sorry or say you love her, none of that. And yet I forget to do that all the time..." Sora choked up and wiped the tears from her eyes.
She quickly regained her composure and straightened out her hair. This wasn't about her, she told herself. This was about Sumiko. "Sorry about that. But...I don't think you caused your mother's death by not telling her to have a good day."
"You...think so?"
"Of course. It's not like that explosion happened because of you," Sora told her as she wiped some tears out of her eyes. "Stuff like that just happens. There's a lot we can't control, and that was one of them, so don't blame yourself. I'm sure that explosion would have happened whether you told her to have a good day or not."
Sumiko wasn't sure if her friend was trying to comfort her or make light of the situation. But nevertheless, her heart did feel a lot lighter upon talking to Sora, flighty and a little offbeat was she was.
But Sumiko and Satoru needed to start repairing their relationship. Sora had enough time to give her mom a hug, tell her she loved her very much and say sorry. But Sumiko and her father's relationship was obviously on it's last few strings.
Even if it was going to be futile, she had to try. She had to be the smart one this time, and be a good friend. Put all the confidence she always boasted to good use for once. Sora liked helping people and this was her chance, even if it really didn't concern her. Sumiko was her friend though, and she owed it to the girl who saved her from that COMPUTER Yaminaa.
"It's just hard...you know? I mean it's so lonely here, my mom isn't here to hug me when I get scared because of thunderstorms...or tell me good job when I ace my test...it's...childish...but..." Sumiko couldn't keep it in anymore. She needed to let her sadness out, and it needed to get out NOW. "I-I want my mother!" Sumiko hugged her dirty blonde friend tightly once again and buried her face into the girl's shoulder. Her tears began soaking the girl's gray school vest and she just let all her tears pour out.
Sora smiled and hugged the girl back like before. It was so odd to see this side of Sumiko. Sora knew every human had emotions, but Sumiko from what she knew never seemed to display any. Most of the time she just acted cold, mysterious, and uncaring. This was a new side to her. She was crying, speaking without the monotone edge in her voice. But then she remembered. All human beings have emotions and feelings. Sumiko was no different. She was just really good at hiding them. It was never as though she never had any at all. Perhaps she could let them all out again.
However the moment was cut as Magpie suddenly appeared at the end of Sumiko's bed.
(Eyecatch 1: Sumiko and Amaya are seen together watching as Sora and Kayo struggle to do their homework. Hood suddenly falls out of nowhere sending papers everywhere. Sumiko and Amaya sweatdrop as Sora and Kayo chase Hood, the Pretty Cure Fairytale Dream logo can be seen on the center bottom of the screen.)
(Eyecatch 2: Sora appears playing with a jack in the box with the other Cures(in civilian form) and Hood right behind her looking over her shoulder. It appears to not work and she starts slamming her fist on the toy. Suddenly it explodes into light and the girls are now in their Cure forms. They look curious at one another with Hood equally confused by what happened. The Pretty Cure Fairytale Dream logo appears on the center bottom of the screen.)
"I'll be your opponent today!" Magpie smirked, " I think I'll start with the stoic robot...oh what's this? The little thing is crying?! Pathetic!" Magpie laughed maliciously.
Sora quickly grabbed her PreCure Storybook out of her school bag and let Hood out. How long had he been in there? But, before he could protest about how he didn't get an episode appearance he suddenly spat out Sora's key.
"Pretty Cure, It's Story Time!" Sora screamed and she transformed.
Sumiko grabbed Hood and hid behind her bed, trying to find her PreCure Story Book. Man, how she regretted getting angry and throwing everything about. She adjusted her white circle framed glasses, which she always wore. She had to find the book quickly.
"Turning faith into pixie dust, Cure Pixie!" Cure Pixie proclaimed and suddenly charged and punched the bird-woman out of Sumiko's window.
Magpie landed on the ground outside and spooked Kayo and Amaya half-to-death. Hood quickly flew down and Kayo and Amaya took out their PreCure Storybooks.
"Pretty Cure, It's Story Time!" the two shouted as red and black light flashed.
"Making a beautiful splash, Cure Mermaid!" Cure Mermaid screamed.
"The promise of misfortune, Cure Raven!" Cure Raven screamed.
They too joined the fray. It was only natural, and both knew Sora was not good at trying to fight on her own.
Magpie laughed broadly as Cure Raven threw a punch at her. She grabbed the girl's fist and swung her around and threw her away. Cure Raven screamed in pain as she hit a tree and fell face first into the grass and dirt. Cure Mermaid charged forward and did a front flip and tried kicking her, however her leg was quickly grabbed. Magpie spun around incredibly fast and when Sora got close, she let go, the two Cures flew into each other.
"This is pathetic!" The bird woman cackled, man she had to do this more often.
"Mermaid Bubbles!" Cure Mermaid blasted the evil bird woman with a barrage of exploding bubbles. This, of course being one of Kayo's strongest attacks.
Magpie screamed loudly as she was thrown back and landed into the old swing set, turning it into a big, gnarled pile of rubble. She quickly sprung back to her feet and sent a giant ball of dark energy at the three girls.
"Mirror Wall!" Cure Mirror suddenly shouted appearing in front of the three. Her hands held the glass magically in place with all her might. She had to hold on, for the sake of her friends. The white haired Cure couldn't even believe it, her strength was actually still there. She was finally making herself useful.
With a giant scream she pushed the wall forward and her rings glowed. Suddenly, the attack launched back at the evil bird-woman. Magpie froze. She had no time to react. She was hit head on and severely injured by her own attack and fell down onto the ground. However, she knew that she had too much pride, plus she had to teach that snot nosed, stuck up, reflecting Cure a lesson.
"Tch. Who's weak now?" Cure Mirror smirked.
Cure Raven and Cure Mermaid blinked, did Cure Mirror really just smirk?
God! She was just like Cure Glass, not really a threat, until you ticked her off. Then you got all your attacks knocked right back into your face, and Mirror and Glass both packed in equal punch in the reflecting field. Even the thought of the two fighting together gave her the chills.
But alas, she had to quickly react as everyone came charging at her at once.
Cure Pixie sent a punch into the bird-woman's jaw, but she was quickly swatted away. Thus, her and the ever-so-infamous Cure Mermaid went flying in the opposite direction.
"Raven Slash!" Cure Raven yelled and hit Magpie dead on knocking her backwards.
Cure Mirror did a back-flip and punched Magpie from the back and sent her hurdling. She slid across the ground and everyone formed together and charged at the bird woman and punched her into the sky. Magpie screamed and flew into the sky and disappeared in a flurry of bird feathers and thus today's battle was over.
The area somehow turned back to normal, Sumiko's room was fixed into it's normal state, etc. They all transformed back to normal and conversed for a while. With every conversation they had, Sumiko's expression grew softer, warmer, and a kind, gentle smile grew on her face like a newborn flower.
"You're smiling~hoho," Hood piped in, noticing the odd but welcome change. "You look really beautiful when you smile~hoho."
"Am I? I...I didn't notice," Sumiko said, her cheeks turning a soft, rosy pink. But oddly enough, she wasn't embarrassed.
"Yeah! You do look cute when you smile!" Kayo added.
"It's true," Sora agreed. "You look so much happier now."
"I think it's because...you all are here," Sumiko mused sheepishly. Her room lost its dull, cold look, and it became warmer, cheerier. So did Sumiko herself. When the time came for everyone to leave, Sumiko just couldn't wait to see them off.
"Bye everyone! See you tomorrow!" Sumiko called as they all left, a bright cheery smile on her face.
Even if she and her dad didn't get along, she still had her friends, and of course Hood was spending the night. She was going to try her best tonight to make up for this morning. Hopefully one day things could go back to the way things were. At that moment, Sumiko felt as though she was in heaven.
Sumiko didn't see it, but looking from behind a tree a ghostly figure stood. Her hair was long and white and she had green eyes.
As the three other girls walked down the street the streetlights suddenly turned on.
"Oh yeah! My mom and your mom talked and I'm staying the night at your house tonight and tomorrow night! My mom's in the hospital because she's pregnant!" Kayo beamed brightly.
Amaya flared up, "w-w-w-what?!" she screamed.
"Oooh!" Sora perked up a perverted grin came up on her face and she rubbed her hands together. "My yuri senses are tingling! Does the uptight Amaya have a-" Sora was cut-off as Amaya clamped her hand over the blonde girl's mouth and an angry red mark appeared on her forehead.
"A what?" Kayo asked curiously.
"Afwaha." the dirty blonde tried saying over Amaya's hand.
"A nothing! You're too young to understand!" the raven haired girl laughed and let the new leader go.
"How about we have a slumber party in two days? Since the weekend is close," Sora grinned from ear to ear.
"YEA! And it's the weekend soon like you said, so it's perfect!" Kayo giggled clapping her hands together.
"Do I get a say-so in this?" Amaya asked in pure dismay.
(ED: Wonderful Story Samba! - Shakira)
Next Time On Pretty Cure Fairytale Dream:
Cure Raven: I'm sorry everyone.
Mirror and Mermaid: Why is Amaya...so out of it?
Yaminaa: Yaminaa!
Cure Pixie and Otome: Oh my God...
Cure Raven: Maybe...I deserve this for being a lire...and a coward..
All: Next time on Pretty Cure Fairytale Dream: "Crime and Punishment! Is This My End
I don't think the next story will receive a happy ending...
Footnotes:
1. "There must be a storm coming!" This is a Japanese phrase used to refer to someone acting out of character.
A.N: As always thanks for all the support! Thank you guys, everyone of you for reading this little story of mine! Also thanks Julia for beta-reading my story!