"Hirouin Himeka, in 2nd year class 1 at Seaside Girls Jr. Academy, 14 years old... I think? I don't remember anything before coming to live with grandpa, and if I might be a year or two older or younger, I don't think he'd care. Not that he isn't a wonderful grandpa! He's patient, and kind, and never has a problem teaching me about the amazing things he knows how to do...
"Oh, my self-introduction! I like comedy, adventure stories, and learning about machines. I dislike monsters, and even though I shouldn't be, I'm still a bit afraid of the dark. As Misty Brilliant, I've been fighting bad people from another world alongside the legendary warriors, Pretty Cure, who are also my friends in the Astronomy Club! I just hope Yui doesn't find out..."
X-Heart PreCure!
Episode 10: A Competitive Soul! The Basketball Team in Crisis?
Gymnasium. Basketball court. A tall girl with bright pink eyes, her long black hair drawn up into a ponytail, facing off against a smaller and younger girl with a shorter ponytail and a determined look on her face.
"Okay!" Tamaki dribbled the ball on the ground as she advanced. "If I get close to the basket, I'm gonna dunk this! But you, Hina! You can definitely keep me away from the basket! I believe in you!"
"Would you stop talking like that, sempai? It makes me feel like you're not taking me seriously as an opponent!"
"If you feel that way, it's only because you don't believe enough! Believe in yourself, Hina! Believe in the you that I believe in!"
"Stop teasing me!"
The younger girl lunged at Tamaki, who slid past her towards the basket. Hina turned to give chase, but slowed to a halt almost immediately. Without even noticing that the pursuit had stopped, Tamaki leapt to the basket and slammed the ball in.
"See, that was a good effort, but-" Tamaki broke off, as she noticed that Hina wasn't near her at all. "Hey, you didn't just quit on me, did you! You can't do that, Hina! You're better than that!"
"Of course, I am!" Hina shouted angrily. "If you'd just come at me with your full strength, I'd-"
"That's enough out of both of you!" A taller girl stepped in between them. "Go home, cool your heads, and rest up for the game tomorrow... actually, I think I'll take my own advice. Hit the showers, girls! We're done for today!"
"Yes, Captain!" "Yes, Captain!"
Hina hesitated. "But-"
"No objections! Captain's orders!"
"Yes... Captain."
Up in the bleachers, Shima carefully packed up her books and went to wait outside the locker room. Tamaki emerged a few minutes later, having let down her hair and changed back into her school uniform. They started walking towards the exit.
"You look confused."
"Oh?" Tamaki turned to look at her friend. "Well... it's kind of funny, but ever since we formed the Astronomy Club, it hasn't felt right to call anyone other than you 'Captain'."
"You don't have to call me that, you know. Actually, if anything you should save it for your team captain. It was her title first."
"I know that! And playing basketball on the team still means a lot to me, but... isn't you-know-what more important? Ow!"
Shima retracted her elbow from Tamaki's side. "You're not allowed to rank it like that. Everyday life is absolutely just as important."
"Ahoy, me hearties!" Yui called out from a side hallway.
Shima glanced toward the brunette. "Good afternoon, Yui. Please don't tell me you're going to talk like that all the time now."
"But what's the fun of being a pirate if we're not gonna talk like it?"
Tamaki's stray hair bobbed languidly. "You didn't talk like one just now."
"Oops! …I mean, yarr!"
Shima sighed. "Why are you still hanging around school this late? Taking a day off from your magical girl hunt?"
"Oh, I've got a way better delusion on my hands today! Miss President ain't lurking about, is she?"
"Not to my knowledge... Is she going to come looking for you?" Shima's glasses flashed. "Depending on what you've done, you might have to walk the plank."
"Captain, we don't have a plank."
"Indeed not," Shima agreed with a cold smile. "Walking might be a problem, too."
"Eep!" Yui drew back in fright. "Anyway, I haven't gotten into any trouble that I know about. I just don't want her to find out that I've got her number. Y'see, I'm pretty sure our student council president is secretly Cure Surf!"
Tamaki's stray hair bent in the shape of a question mark. Shima clapped her palm to her forehead.
"I'm not joking," Yui protested. "They're both incredibly strong, and totally ruthless!"
"If it's just a matter of strength, you should probably suspect the sports clubs before the student council."
"Shima, I'm in a sports club..."
"Yes, but playing basketball has absolutely nothing to do with fighting monsters."
"Well... I saw a movie once where an alien invasion had to go away if they lost at basketball, but it was a pretty weird movie."
Yui's eyes lit up. "Now that sounds like my kind of- Ah! I can't get distracted now! If I'm gonna expose Miss President, I need a completely foolproof plan!"
Shima nodded. "No doubt because a fool would be carrying it out."
Yui ignored the barb. "If only I knew when the next monster would attack..."
Tamaki scratched her head. "That's not really something that can be predicted, though."
"It's not like you really need to know that," Shima said. "If you're sure that she's Cure Surf, just stick to her like glue. Follow her everywhere, even the restroom. Another monster will attack sooner or later, and then you should be able to get your proof."
"But Captain, if I do that, she'll-"
Shima cut her off. "You asked for a foolproof plan. You never specified that it should be free of other flaws."
"Touché," Yui replied. "I can see why they made you the Captain."
The next day at school was largely uneventful, though the wind from the sea carried clouds and more clouds overhead as the sun steadily dropped towards the horizon. As the hour of the anticipated basketball game approached, the academy came alive. Students returning to the school, along with their families, and students from other schools each passed through the gates in small groups, creating a vibrant evening atmosphere.
Some people had been so busy with preparations that they had never left, among these the faculty, the basketball team, and the student council. In particular, a certain violet-haired girl with braids tied into a shape that might have resembled a starfish, who was at times accompanied by the redheaded president of the Crafts Club.
"It looks like you've picked up a shadow," Miu commented, as she very carefully gazed not at all towards the wall her sister had just ducked behind. "Something happen between you two? More than usual, I mean."
"Not that I'm aware of." Koishi shrugged. "If I had to guess... either she thinks she's going to catch me in some scandal that would get me dismissed from the student council, or she thinks I'm secretly a magical girl."
"Oho... I'd start stalking you myself if you had a secret that juicy." Miu rubbed her hands together excitedly. "Do you, Prez-tan?"
"Of course not."
"You'd tell me if you did, though."
"Of course not."
"Haha, good! Can't have you thinking that I'm reliable!"
"This is perfect!" Yui whispered to herself, as she tailed her sister and Koishi from a safe distance. "She has no idea I'm on to her, and now Miu is even distracting her for me... and she can't rat me out because she doesn't know either! This will be the ultimate triumph of delusion over reality!"
The brunette peeked her head around another corner to gauge the activity of her quarries. "They're on the move! I'd better make with the sneaky-sneak- whoa!" She was forced to interrupt her plotting as a green-haired girl came around the corner and nearly stumbled over the top of her. Yui quickly moved to catch her, with the result that neither came to any harm.
"Himeka! Are you okay? You look pretty out of it."
"Yui? Where did you come from?" From the look in her eyes, Himeka didn't seem to be quite able to focus. "I suddenly have the worst headache..."
Yui sighed. It wasn't even a hard decision.
"Come on, partner. Let's get you home."
She put her arm around Himeka's shoulders and led her toward the school gates.
On the grounds outside, both of Tamaki's brothers approached the gymnasium. In complete defiance of the diminishing daylight, Keiichi had a book open and appeared to be reading. A few steps behind him, Rentarou conversed with Andou Yuusaku. The blue-haired boy looked as if he'd rather be anywhere else but there.
"Do we really need to do this?" Yuusaku rubbed his temples with his fingers. "Just having set foot in this garden of femininity is making my head hurt."
"Absolutely," Rentarou replied. "This is a night when what would normally be unforgivable is forgiven for the sake of basketball! An entire school full of girls in summer uniforms, and us gentlemen free to look and even take pictures!"
"We see girls in summer uniforms every day, Suou. Our schools are right next to each other. On top of that, two of them live in the same inn as I do, and another is your sister."
Rentarou waved his hand dismissively. "Oh, like that counts at all."
"I'm also moderately certain that you'll quickly get in trouble if you take pictures that aren't related to the game."
"Okay, so you might be right about that." Rentarou shrugged. "But girls in jerseys ain't bad either! And besides, you can't just waste one of your rare nights off sitting around home. It's just not healthy."
"Not healthy? You know what's not healthy, Suou?" The other boy launched into a rant. "Here we are in girl territory, where you're about to run off and indulge some ridiculous voyeuristic impulse. I can't even begin to imagine what will happen when they catch you, but I'm sure you'll wish you were dead. And while they're doing whatever to you, you'll end up making me out to be your accomplice, and then they'll come after me!"
"Dude, chill. Nothing like that is going to happen. Why would you even think that?"
"Have you listened to yourself talk?"
"Not really. Why?"
"Hey! Andou-kun!" A girl's voice called out nearby.
Yuusaku did an immediate about-face and saw Koishi approaching with Miu. "M- Miss Koishi! I swear, I am not a part of this rogue's mischief!"
"Oh really?" Koishi turned to look at Rentarou. "Well, you don't look like a troublemaker. I'm Kagura Koishi, student council president, and Watanabe here is the reason I have too much work on my hands. What's your name?"
"Suou Rentarou. My sister's in the game tonight."
Koishi extended her hand, and Rentarou accepted the handshake politely.
"Mind if we borrow Andou-kun?" Miu asked. "We're in a rush and we need some muscle."
Rentarou glanced at Yuusaku. "I guess I'll see you later?"
The blue-haired boy shrugged, then departed with the two girls.
In the temple hidden beneath the scalded sands and the cinnamon-colored night, the warriors of the Pira Clan gathered before Amazonya's scrying pool. Once again he performed his mystic ritual. The waters before him simmered and seethed as he uttered his litany.
"The scent of the human is the scent of the prize. The passion that quickens her pulse, the passion that warms her blood, is that which beckons to the accursed treasures of darkness! Come forth, Pira Sporty, and receive the scent of a passionate athlete!"
A masked figured stepped out from the ranks, immediately and obviously set apart by the alabaster baseball helmet it wore instead of a hood. It moved to the rim of the pool, leaned forward, and inhaled deeply.
"The scent of the human fills my lungs! Great Amazonya, is this the scent that must be followed?"
Amazonya nodded. "Follow this scent to the human it belongs to! Observe her travails and mark her at her moment of truth! Seize the treasure that reacts to the flame of her passion! That is my command! Now go, Pira Sporty, and bring honor to the Pira Clan!"
"Yes, Great Amazonya!" The helmeted figure stepped back from the edge of the pool and crossed its arms in a solemn salute. Then it vanished in a cloud of white steam.
In the A/V room overlooking the court, Yuusaku pushed a heavy block of audio equipment into place.
"Is that it? I should probably go find Suou before he does something dumb."
Koishi hovered over the machine with an instruction manual, flipping through pages and rapidly connecting cables.
Miu leaned against the back of a chair and answered for her. "At the very least, that's all the heavy lifting, Andou-kun. I think Prez-tan has the rest covered."
"Later, then." He opened the door and left.
"Actually..." A mischievous look crossed Miu's face, then she slipped out the door after him.
Koishi finished hooking up the equipment, then sat down in front of a microphone. "Test, test. Wave if you can hear me?" A few people in the stands looked up at the booth and waved. "Okay. Good evening to all our Seaside students, faculty, and family members who have so kindly turned out to support our team, and also to the opposing team and those of you who are here to support them. Standing in for the A/V Club, who couldn't be here tonight, I'm the student council president, Kagura Koishi, and my associate who will be here momentarily is the leader of our Crafts Club, Watanabe Miu. We'll be your announcers."
Koishi went on to read from a list the names of the opposing team's starting players, who stepped out onto the basketball court as each was named.
Miu re-entered the room, looking slightly flushed. She quickly grabbed the other mic and began chattering.
"Good evening, my peoples! Now that those Skyline jobbers are out of the way, let's give a warm and rowdy welcome to our Seaside girls!"
As the Seaside team waited for their turn to come out, each of the older girls was trying to pump herself up in her own way. Hina looked like she was trying to project a cool exterior, but her gaze was jumping around entirely too much for this to be effective. From the stands, to the opposing team, to the scoreboard, to the upperclassmen on the team, she seemed to be trying to look at every other person present except the person who was watching her the closest.
"Energy charge!" Tamaki's arms suddenly wrapped around Hina from behind, with her fingers touching together in a heart shape about over Hina's heart.
Hina broke free, lurched forward, then spun on Tamaki. "What do you think you're-"
"Feel better?" Tamaki asked cheerfully.
Hina glared daggers at the older girl, but the team captain interrupted before she could respond.
"Okay, girls. We're on."
The voice of the strange leader of the Crafts Club echoed from the gymnasium speakers as the team jogged out onto the court. "Starting for Seaside, third year Harima Ruri, third year Karasuma Saori, second year Suou Tamaki, rookie Tsukamoto Hina, and our team captain in her third year here at Seaside, who still hasn't paid up the money she owes me-" "Watanabe!" "Okay! Okay! Let's just get this show on the road."
What followed was a whirlwind of motion, played out under bright lights, to raucous cheers, and punctuated by two energetic announcers, only one of whom was making any attempt to seem unbiased. By the halfway point of the game, Seaside trailed their opponents by nine points, and every girl on the court was visibly sweating from exertion.
The basketball team quickly gathered around the team captain, who immediately spoke. "Good job, girls. We're a little behind, but we can make it up. I need to go talk to Watanabe just a tiny little bit. Everyone be back here in ten minutes." Then she turned and strode off.
The other two third-year girls exchanged a worried glance, then hurried off after their leader.
Tamaki turned to say something to Hina, but the younger girl scowled and started walking away.
"Hey, what's wrong? Do you need another energy charge?" Tamaki reached out toward Hina, who slapped her hand away.
"Leave me alone!"
Tamaki paused for just a moment, and Hina took off running. Tamaki ran after her with a determined look on her face.
As the basketball teams left on their break, Shima's Lodestone began buzzing inside her pocket. After a quick look to make sure nobody was watching her, she picked up her satchel and slipped out of the stands. Once she was out of the gymnasium, she opened the satchel and showed her Cure Lodestone, which was now glowing, to the two fairies hidden within.
They were quick to agree that one of the treasures might be nearby.
"And that means an awesome fight-ton! Let's hurry so we don't miss it-ton!" Ton began to glow faintly pink as he bounded off in the direction indicated by the Lodestone.
"You could be a little less enthusiastic about that part..."
Hina stormed into the locker room, and slammed the door behind her. Or that was her intention, but the door failed to close completely, having been caught by Tamaki, who entered the room less than a moment behind her.
Even then, the door didn't close completely, but this went unnoticed by the two, who were completely focused on the impending confrontation.
"I told you to leave me alone!"
Tamaki shook her head stubbornly. "Not until you tell me what's wrong!"
"What's wrong? Everything's wrong! What good is practicing one-on-one when a real game is five-on-five? I'm not taller or stronger than anyone here, especially not the other team! Our big game is half over, and I haven't even scored any points! What's the point of being a starter if I don't accomplish anything that proves I've earned it?"
Tamaki's stray hair stuck out confidently. "I don't think you need to prove anything. Isn't it enough to have fun playing a good game against a worthy opponent? Don't you like playing basketball?"
"I love playing basketball! There's practically nothing else I'd rather do! But I also want to win!"
Before Tamaki could reply, several things happened almost at once.
The Lodestone in her pocket vibrated and spun to point out an oblong block of ice floating in the air, a bell-shaped shadow encased within.
Just outside the door, Shima's Cure Lodestone did the same, prompting her to stumble through the door and into the room along with Ton and Tun.
Hina, reacting either to the strange apparition or the sudden intrusion, tensed and began to shout something... only for a basketball-sized marshmallow to drop from the ceiling and latch onto her face.
"That's gotta be one of the treasures-ton!"
"We've got to grab it before it vanishes-tun!"
"Mmmph! Mm-mm-mmph!" "Kirainaaaaaa!"
"No! Pira Sporty has been commanded to claim the accursed treasure of darkness!"
A previously unremarkable portion of the locker room wall- or rather, a sheet that looked exactly like an unremarkable portion of the wall- fell away, revealing another long-limbed, bulb-bodied warrior of the Pira Clan. Instead of the usual white hood, this one wore an ivory helmet that left the upper portions of its decidedly fish-like face visible, though a cloth mask still covered its jowls. The creature flung several small, white pellets across the room which burst on contact and released a dense white smoke.
As the smoke swiftly filled the room, Hina succeeded at prying the monster marshmallow from her face and flung it across the room, then took a deep breath of hazy air and began coughing. The soft-toothed marshmallow struck the floating artifact and sent it skittering into the haze and across the floor. The helmeted Pira Clan, having leapt into the air toward the treasure's former position, lost its balance and collided with another wall.
Then Shima, following the glow of her Cure Lodestone, found Tamaki and tapped her on the shoulder.
"You ready?" "I'm ready!"
"PreCure Cross My Heart!" "PreCure Cross My Heart!"
The starlit sea of their transformation appeared around them. The locker room reappeared without a moment having passed.
"Flying the flag of the whistling wind, Cure Breeze!"
"Flying the flag of the crashing waves, Cure Surf!"
"Joined together under the jolly roger of love, we will calm your hatred and steal your heart! Setting sail, Cross Heart Pretty Cure!"
After a few moments, the smoke began to clear, leaving behind a fine white dust on most of the exposed surfaces in the room. Hina came into view with her back to the two magical girls. She picked herself up off the ground and slowly stood.
"Hina?" Cure Breeze's stray hair wavered anxiously.
"Wait." Cure Surf moved to hold Breeze back. "Something's not right."
"Oh my goodness!" The younger girl whirled to face them with wide eyes and a bright smile. Her irises had inexplicably turned heart-shaped. She clapped her hands cheerfully. "What beautiful pirates you are! And to call me by name when this is our first meeting... Why, it's positively scandalous!"
"Oh my goodness?" Breeze echoed warily. "Scandalous?"
"I take it she normally doesn't talk like that?" Surf asked, sounding a little frightened.
"This upper-class girl kind of speech? Never in a thousand years."
"Have you come to take me away, I wonder? To have me as your handmaiden? I am the most beautiful butterfly under the sea!"
"The Elder told me about this-tun!" The blue fairy exclaimed with surprise. "Those heart marks in her eyes come from a mushroom that grows in the Field of Rivers-tun!"
"That is incorrect, Fairy Scholar." On the opposite side of the room, the monstrous ninja rose from behind a row of waist high lockers. "This drug is the refined form of a lichen."
"Oh! I'm sorry-tun!"
"But why wasn't anyone else affected?" Surf asked.
"From the beginning, there was no expectation that legendary warriors or creatures of darkness would be susceptible," the ninja explained. "Sporty ingested an antidote beforehand."
"You mean I've been poisoned?" Hina's heart-shaped irises sparkled intensely. "Oh my, how romantic!"
"No! Passionate athlete should experience hallucinations and euphoria while Sporty recovers the accursed treasures of darkness, and then remember none of this. Such is the wisdom of the Great Amazonya!"
"That's a relief," Surf replied. "For a moment there, I thought you were going to make us choose between handing over the treasure or letting her die."
"Oh my goodness! That sounds even more romantic!"
"Well, I think it's a terrible idea." Breeze cracked her knuckles.
"Sporty made no such implication and will suggest no such bargain!"
"Oh... okay." Breeze pause, then pointed dramatically at the fish-like ninja. "But you're still in our locker room! Only girls are allowed in here!"
The room was silent for a moment.
"But Sporty is female."
"You are? But you look and sound just like-mmph!"
Surf kept her hands covering Breeze's mouth. "My friend means to say that we're sorry to have made that error. Please accept our apology."
The fishwoman bowed politely. "Apology accepted. To be perfectly honest, recognizing gender in mammals confounds Sporty as well."
"Kira-kira! Kirainaaaa!"
"Come back, here you malevolent munchie-ton! That treasure belongs in the Field of Currents-ton!"
The marshmallow monster hopped across the rows of waist-high lockers carrying the frozen treasure. Ton followed in hot pursuit, then bounded forward and tackled the creature. The treasure flew into the air and hovered out of reach. Ton stood on top of the marshmallow and started punching it with his stubby limbs.
"Take that and that and that-ton! Your evil marshmallow is no match for a manly lanternfish warrior-ton!"
The ninja rubbed her helmet pensively. "If this one might be permitted to ask: What is a manly lanternfish warrior doing in a girls only locker room?"
"Fighting-ton!"
"Leaving-tun. Come along now, Ton-sama."
Tun proceeded to pull Ton off the Kiraina and drag him out of the room by his arm, with the male fairy putting up only token resistance.
"Right!" Breeze held up her fists once more. "I guess that makes it our turn!"
Surf nodded and assumed a fighting stance beside her.
"Oh my goodness! The pirates are going to fight the ninja to protect my virtue! I am such a sinful woman!"
"Wait!" The fishwoman objected. "Sporty would prefer a more civilized contest!"
Cure Breeze hesitated, her stray hair wavering inquisitively.
"What do you mean?"
"Surely, legendary warriors would not prefer to knock this building down from the inside?"
"Now that you mention it, no. That would suck."
"Sporty concurs. Let us play a game, and the treasure of darkness shall be the prize!"
"As long as it's quick," Surf insisted. "Breeze and Tsukamoto have less than ten minutes to get back to the gym."
"That's right! We do! So you have to undo whatever you did to Hina whether you win or lose!"
"Agreed." The ninja extended a spindly arm and grasped the marshmallow Kiraina in one clawed hand. "Among your human peoples, the game is known as... dodgeball."
With a speed that belied her slight build, Pira Sporty pitched the creature straight at Breeze, who twisted out of the way. The ball howled in extreme distress, then ricocheted off the wall towards Surf, who ducked under it. The little monster bounced without any control against two other walls and the ceiling before arcing back to Sporty, who caught it.
"As expected of the legendary warriors... But Sporty will not lose!"
She hurled the small monster again, this time targeting Surf, who dived sideways to avoid it. The marshmallow pinged off the wall behind her, then the floor, the ceiling, and a bank of lockers, then shot toward Breeze, all the while howling indignantly. Breeze leapt into the air and the ball passed beneath her, nearly grazing her hair as it passed, then struck the door behind her, which broke off at the hinges and fell open. The marshmallow rolled slowly outside into the school grounds.
"Oops!"
Cure Breeze rushed out onto the grass in pursuit of the fugitive game ball, which was sneaking across the neatly trimmed lawn about as stealthily as a white marshmallow on a black background possibly could.
"Kira- Kira..." Exhausted by an extended session of terrified screeching, it stopped to catch its breath.
"Gotcha!"
"Kiraina!" The creature struggled in vain to escape her, howling a wordless and pathetic protest. Breeze wound up, pitched it back into the locker room, and dashed back inside after it.
A couple of moments later, Suou Rentarou poked his head around the corner and began inching toward the broken door of the locker room, holding a camera in his hands.
The marshmallow's wail carried through the night, where it caught the attention of a young man in a black suit, who happened to be standing on the ledge of a third story window of the main school building. He had been trying to pry it open without falling, but despite his efforts it remained shut. Shaking his head, he released his grip on the building and fell, landed lightly on the ground below, then slipped purposefully into the darkness.
Although it was now nighttime, the area around the gymnasium was well-lit and generally clear of obstructions. It wasn't as if Rentarou could slip from one bit of cover to the next, nor was he in possession of a large cardboard box to hide under in case somebody happened to approach. That sort of contrivance would have looked suspiciously out of place regardless, but it would have at least looked less suspicious than a boy in a dark blue gakuran taking slow, exaggerated steps along a nearly white wall towards the door of a girls' locker room while holding a camera in front of him plainly ready to use.
That said, he was not so wholeheartedly focused on making a stealthy approach in an area where stealth was patently impossible that he could fail to notice when a glossy black dart embedded itself in the wall a meter or so in front of his face.
"Gah!" He stumbled backwards in shock and landed painfully on his rear, camera clutched tenderly to his chest.
Rentarou quickly shifted to get his legs back underneath him, then looked around. To the lone person observing him, it seemed that he was at trying at least as hard to look cool as he was to guess where the dart might have come from and who was watching. After a few moments, he began to look satisfied that the one dart might have been a fluke. He started once again slipping towards the locker room door.
Another dart thudded into the wall, this time much closer to him. Then, a couple of seconds later, a third one struck the concrete path just centimeters in front of his feet.
His eyes widened, but he managed to keep from shouting this time. He also got the message, as indicated by the fact that he turned and made a hasty retreat.
After several rounds of throwing and dodging, the locker room had more or less turned into a disaster area. The frozen treasure still spun through the air as Hina waxed uncharacteristically rhapsodic about the wonders before her, which only occasionally bore any relationship to what was going on around her.
Or perhaps she actually had turned into a butterfly that just happened to look like her ordinary self, flirted with an invisible mermaid, and was now peeling and eating invisible grapes. To say that it wasn't distinctly possible would be... the complete and utter truth. Her lichen-addled senses were showing her a world completely different from the one she was in.
This was of particular importance because Hina didn't seem in the least aware of the shrieking marshmallow, which having been evaded by Pira Sporty and then ricocheted off two walls and the ceiling, was flying with great velocity in the direction of her body.
"Look out!" Cure Breeze shouted as she leapt in front of the ball, which hit her hard in the stomach. It bounced away as she collapsed on the floor.
"Oh my goodness! My lady pirate has been mortally wounded for my sake!"
"I'm fine! I'm fine! Just had the wind knocked outta- What are you doing?!"
The girl with the heart-shaped irises had knelt on the floor by the pink-haired magical girl, and was making every effort to smother Breeze's head with either her lap or her washboard.
"Please don't struggle, lady pirate! Since you've been so kind as to die for my sake, I must make your last moments as sweet and comfortable as they can be!"
"Surf, help me!"
Surf scooped the marshmallow Kiraina up with one arm, then pointedly turned her back to the struggling Breeze.
"Legendary warrior will abandon partner?"
"If Breeze wants to lie down and die on her delusional teammate's lap pillow, it's got nothing to do with me."
"What? Surf, what are you talking about?!"
"My brave pirate lass, oh please be still..."
"Besides which..." Surf hefted the marshmallow monster at arm's length and pointed it towards the fishwoman. "She got hit. If she rejoins the game now, we'd be breaking the rules."
"Indeed."
Surf wound up and fired the ball straight at Sporty, who swiftly tilted her whole body back until it was parallel to the ground. The marshmallow went on to bounce off the far wall, a block of lockers, the ceiling, and then Sporty's helmet as she was righting herself. The fishwoman tilted her head slightly to the side as she registered the impact, then turned to look at the ball, which whimpered softly as it rolled to a stop in a pool of water from one of the damaged showers.
She looked back at Surf, who was still watching her closely. "Well?"
"A fair hit. Sporty is rightly defeated."
The fishwoman trudged over to the Kiraina, which had been too dazed to move since the game ended, and picked it up. A round sheet of slimy water appeared in the air over her, then she jumped into it and vanished. The slimy pool fell and splashed on the floor. The damage to the locker room... specifically, the warped and dented banks of lockers, some of which had broken open and spilled their contents, broken ceramic floor tiles and small craters that had broken through to the concrete underneath, as well as a toilet and two shower heads that had been smashed open and covered the floor in water... all of it shimmered and reverted to normal.
"So this happens even when we don't cleanse a monster with Heart Cross..."
Breeze nodded her agreement. "I'm just glad I don't have to try and explain all that damage to the rest of the team."
"Oh my goodness..." Hina suddenly sat straight up her irises returned to normal. Then she slumped forward, unconscious.
"Hina! Hina, wake up?" Tamaki knelt over the younger girl and shook her lightly by the shoulders.
"Sempai? I was having the most wonderful-" Hina blinked. "I fell asleep in the middle of the game! We were losing because of me and now I've ruined everything!"
"You know... winning isn't really a matter of who's taller or stronger. If that was the case, we could skip playing the game and just lift weights or something to determine who should win... which is a thing people actually do, but that's not basketball. So what if you missed a few shots? So what if you can't dunk the ball? You're quick on your feet, and you've got the agility of a mongoose. 1 on 1, I'm pretty sure you could take the ball away from just about anybody."
"That's what you meant by that guarantee?" Hina scratched her head sheepishly. "I was starting to think that your head was actually empty."
The older girl shrugged. "It kinda is, but I make up for it with heart! But there's another reason I know you've got talent: All last year, I sat on the bench."
"But I still missed the second half! I've let everybody down!"
"You haven't let anybody down, yet!" Tamaki said with a grin. "The second half doesn't even start for another..."
"Thirty seconds." Shima interjected.
"THIRTY SECONDS?!" "THIRTY SECONDS?!"
A light breeze and the clap of the door slamming open against the wall outside were the only indications that the two girls had even been there. Shima suppressed a giggle, and began walking back to her place in the stands.
A few moments after she re-entered the gymnasium, a figure in black dropped out of a nearby tree and silently followed.
Both teams were back on the court just in time for the second half of the game to begin. Out of the spectators who had left their seats, most of them had also returned. Those few stragglers who came back to their seats late were not particularly missed nor commented upon. This naturally included the blue-haired girl with the slightly overstuffed satchel.
That Rentarou encountered Yuusaku as they both were re-entering the gymnasium was mostly a coincidence.
"Yo, Suou." "Yo, Andou."
"I assume you've been up to no good?"
Rentarou shook his head. "Unfortunately, I had a sudden attack of conscience. How about you? Did those two girls really keep you busy through the entire first half."
Yuusaku shrugged. "You wouldn't believe how hard it is to find the right restroom here. It's not even a real mens room. It's a ladies room with a temporary sign chained to the door."
"Chained?"
Yuusaku shrugged. "I'm sure it's a precaution... Just think of what could happen if somebody moved it. How's the game going?"
"Pretty close. Tama-nee's team was a little behind, but- whoa. I didn't think I'd miss this much."
"Oh?"
"Check it out." Rentarou pointed at the scoreboard as they made their way to their seats.
"Tie game," the other boy nodded. "Well, there's still plenty of time left."
While it hadn't been a one-sided match before and still wasn't, the Seaside team had returned from the intermission with renewed vigor. Not just Tamaki and Hina, but also the team captain and the others. Even the less biased of the two announcers was forced to admit that something must have happened during the break, though she was careful not to guess what that may have been.
The game remained even right up to the last moments.
"Whatsherface from Skyline advancing- and Tsukamoto steals it! Quick like mongoose, that rookie of ours! Tsukamoto passes to Suou. Suou goes in for the- She is in the air, going for a backboard-shattering slam-" "Don't you dare shatter that backboard, Suou!" "-slams straight through the hoop with a disappointing amount of respect for school property, and that is game! Let's have a round of applause, people! Make some noise for our home court champs, and also for those good sports who came all the way across town so our girls could look good thrashing them, the Skyline Redshirts!"
"They're called the Crimson Storm, Watanabe."
"I said what I meant. We're your announcers, the fearless leader of the most excellent Crafts Club, Watanabe Miu, and presidente por vida-" "Student council president, Kagura Koishi." "Like I said, signing off!"
"Shima! Koishi! Wait up!"
Tamaki flagged down the other two girls as they were leaving through the school gate. Her brothers trailed close behind. Rentarou held his camera as if he might take a picture at any moment, and Keiichi somehow still had his nose in a book even though it was already dark out. Koishi greeted the two boys cordially, while Shima mostly got red in the face.
"Rentarou..." Tamaki was quick to scrutinize her younger brother. "You actually took pictures of the game, right? If you brought that thing with you just to take pictures of my friends..."
"Hey, cool it! Of course I got some shots of the game! That's nothing compared to what I could've got, but I do have plenty of you and your team in action."
"Nothing, you say?" Tamaki glared sharply at Rentarou. "You do still like sports, right? Couldn't you try to enjoy the game more and be a pervert less?"
"Hey, it's not like I didn't enjoy the game," he protested swiftly. "It's just that I was this close to getting photos of Pretty Cure! You can't compare a ball game to something that amazing!"
"I have trouble believing you would get 'that close' and have nothing to show for it."
"Well, they were in one of the locker rooms! Even I have enough self-awareness to understand what would happen if I brought my camera into a place like that! Even though they're everybody's heroes, if Pretty Cure in there, they'd smash my camera for sure!"
"Oh? That'd be letting you off easy." Tamaki flashed a grin that didn't reach her eyes. "If it was anyone on the team, we'd start with your camera, and then we'd smash you!"
"And I get that, y'know? If it was just me, it might be worth it. But my camera contains my very soul!"
"Next time!"
"This was a basketball episode, right? Why did we spend the whole fight scene playing dodgeball?"
"Tamaki-"
"I've got all kinds of basketball skills that I could have turned into PreCure special attacks!"
"Tamaki-"
"And I could have gone out on the court and done one of those fancy destructive dunks that everyone watching us on TV wants to see!"
"Tamaki! We are not on television!"
"Next time, X-Heart PreCure: I've become a doll? Little Shima's big adventure!"
"Wait, what?"
"A slam dunk. You know: a flashy finishing move, like a tornado or a fireball."
"I don't want to turn into a doll! I don't want to have an adventure!"
"We've been having lots of adventures already. Beside, doesn't that sound like fun?"
"If you think it's so great, why don't you do it?"
"Y'think I could? Your name's in the title..."
"Then we'll change the title!"
"We can do that?"
"Next time, X-Heart PreCure: I've become a doll? Little Shima's big adventure!"
"Huh... I guess we can't do that."
"No! Please, I can't do this!"