"Check it out, Nocturna!" Kemuri cried cheerfully, skipping up to the older girl's chair. Despite the happy tone, however, she was breathing a bit heavily, one hand clutching at her chest in pain. With her other hand, she reached deep into her skirts and produced the Dream Charm, held it up to Nocturna. "We got it! Well, only a little bit of it, but we can totally get more shards! That's a big step already taken!"
Nocturna managed a tired smile, lifting her arm. The gelatinous substance around her body retreated from her arm and moved through the rest of her body, allowing her to move more freely. She reached out, moving for the Dream Charm in near-reverence.
But her fingertips had barely touched the diamond-like charm when she hissed, drawing her hand back. Her teeth grit, her eyes closed, and she pushed herself as far back against her chair as physically possible.
"N-Nocturna?" Kemuri ventured, smile slipping off her face. Whoa, that wasn't how this was supposed to go down.
"G-Get it away from me," Nocturna hissed.
"But...but you said it was going to help you, right? I don't get why-"
Nocturna lifted her arm and slapped the charm out of Kemuri's grasp. The pig-tailed girl shrieked and pulled her hands to her chest as the charm clattered to the floor a few feet away.
"I said get it away from me!" Nocturna shrieked.
OP: "Purikyua Club" - Bukatsudo Four
Fumie yawned as she dragged herself out of bed. It was very early morning; the sun hadn't risen yet. The light from the moon and streetlights outside offered a little light for the blonde to see without turning the lamp on.
She yawned, shuffling past Kaana and Hisa, curled up on the top of her nightstand. Rubbing at an eye, she made her way to the bathroom-
-and suddenly stopped, eyes wide.
For just a second, a glowing girl in a white dress was seen in the corner of her room. But upon noticing Fumie's staring, she made an odd squeaking noise, turned around...and passed through the wall.
Fumie stood stock-still, staring at that spot a few more moments. Then, slowly, her eyes grew wider and teary, her head shaking a little.
"KYAAAAAAAH!"
TODAY'S EPISODE: Haunted School! Free the Lonely Ghost!
"I'm totally serious, you guys!" Fumie shrieked, fists to her chest. She stood in the middle of the room she and Mari shared, the rest of Pretty Cure standing around her in a semi-circle. All of them were still wearing their pajamas, as it was the weekend and they'd been intending on sleeping in, but Fumie had ruined that. "She was right there in that corner! A-And she looked right at me and walked through the wall! She looked right at me!" Fumie repeated, tears welling up in her eyes again.
Kotone rubbed at one eye, tired irritation plain on her face. "And it was how early that you saw this?" she grumbled. "If it was so early, you would have woken us up right away...You sure you weren't dreamin'?"
"I wasn't dreaming!" Fumie insisted. "And...and I didn't want to leave my room til it was brighter out, because what if the ghost was right outside?" She shuddered, remembering how she'd spent the remainder of the night huddled up under her blanket, a weeping mess, flashlight in hand. "Sh-She might've killed me! Or ripped my face off and used it as a mask! O-Or maybe she'd decide she wanted to play with me and be my friend forever and ever, so then she would turn me into a ghost like her and-"
Aoi touched Fumie's shoulder to calm her down.
"Kyaaaaa!"
"Fumie," Aoi said sternly, adjusting her glasses. "Calm down...You know the ghost is only a story to scare the underclassmen, right? It's not real."
"Then ho - how come people t - talk about it? How come people t - talk about s - s - seeing it?"
"Because it's just meant to scare people!" Kurako snapped, arms folded, shaking her head. "Honestly...it's no different than stories of youkai."
"But youkai do exist," Kaana finally piped up from her place on Fumie's head.
"They do not."
"Kurako, you're one of four transforming heroines who fight monsters made of inanimate objects," Hisa deadpanned. "I think it's easy to believe youkai exist."
"That's totally different!"
Aoi suddenly stuck two fingers in her mouth, shut her eyes tight, and whistled sharply. The rest of the group yelped and covered their ears before looking over at her. The glasses-girl sighed, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. "Alright, alright. Fumie, if it will make you feel better, we'll stay with you overnight tonight, and if we see the ghost, we'll do something."
"And if we don't see anything," Kotone added, hands on her hips. "Then it was all just a dream and you shouldn't have woken us up so early."
Fumie wasn't convinced. She held her fists under her chin and sniffled again. "B-B-But..."
"Fumie, just give it a try," Hisa muttered. She was still rather angry about being woken up by Fumie's scream hours ago.
"There, now isn't this nice?" Aoi said cheerfully. She sat with the others on Fumie's bunk, her legs tucked beneath her and her hands folded neatly on her lap. In the middle of the blanket sat a few flashlights, arranged together in a teepee shape. "It's just like camping! I even brought marshmallows and chocolate, see?" she added, producing the bags from her backpack.
Kotone was less enthusiastic, a look of disappointment on her face as she poked one of the flashlights. "It's nothing like camping," she sighed. "There're no stars out."
"If you wanted stars, I would've gotten some sticky-stars and put them on the ceiling," Fumie offered.
"Not the same."
Kurako reached over to take some marshmallows, popping one into her mouth. "Just shush up and let's enjoy this. If there's no ghost, we can at least spend time together."
For several hours, they did just that. They kept their voices down so any wandering teachers wouldn't overhear their slumber party, shared the food Aoi brought, at one point Kurako and Kotone got into a mock pillow-fight over the last chocolate (which was promptly eaten by Kaana instead), and nearly forgot why they were there in the first place.
It wasn't til four in the morning, when they were finally too tired to stay awake any longer, that something actually happened.
Kaana and Hisa lay curled up on top of the nightstand, Pretty Cure sprawled out on top of Fumie's bedcovers. As they all slept, blissfully ignorant, a faint light appeared on the wall opposite the bunk beds. Slowly, a figure emerged, regarding the sleepers with timid curiosity, and finally stepped forward. They slowly approached the bed, their eerie light illuminating Kurako's features. The dark-haired girl grumbled something in her sleep, squinting from the light.
"Mmf, Fumie, turn th' lights off..." she mumbled, blearily opening her eyes. Then her eyes snapped open all the way; Kurako fully awake.
And she stared directly into the pale lilac eyes of the ghost.
"Hyaaaaaah!" Kurako shrieked, bolting upright and speedily crab-walking towards the wall. At the same time, the ghost flinched back, fists up to her chin. The scream woke up everyone else in the room, of course.
"Kurako, what's the mat-" Aoi started, then saw the ghost. "Kyaaa!"
"I told you it was real!" Fumie shrieked, pointing and hiding under her blanket. "It's gonna take my face off!" She covered her face in the mattress.
"Guys..."
"Fumie, let me under there!" Kurako cried, tugging on the blankets. "She was looking at me, she obviously wants to steal my face!"
"You guys!" Kotone shouted, looking into the ghost's eyes. "I don't think it wants to do anything. Check it out."
Everyone looked over at it-no, her, then. The ghost-girl was standing against the opposite wall, head ducked so her bangs obscured her eyes, fists drawn up to her chest. She stood pigeon-toed, trembling faintly as if she were more frightened of them than they of her. Everyone fell silent, and then heard the faint noises she was making. "Hu-hyuuu...hyuuu..."
Crying. She was crying.
Kaana and Hisa slowly uncoiled themselves, glanced at each other and then at Pretty Cure. All the girls sat with rather lost-looking expressions on their faces, looking at one another and shrugging. Aoi was the first to move, carefully getting out of bed and making her way across the room. She stopped a few steps before the ghost, bending a little to try and see her face. "Hey...hey, it's alright...don't cry, Miss Ghost."
The ghost sniffled, lifting her head just a little. Her bangs parted slightly, revealing one of her eyes. She looked at the group over Aoi's shoulder, then back at Aoi herself. "Y-You're n-n-not mad at me?"
Aoi smiled reassuringly. "No, no! Who would be mad at a poor little thing like you? Come on, don't be shy, come on..."
The ghost slowly lowered her hands, looking back at the wall for a moment as if she wanted to run through it, but took a few steps forward. Aoi touched her shoulder as best she could, trying to usher her towards the bunk.
"There we are. Don't be scared...I bet you want something, don't you? That's why ghosts are around in the first place, yes?"
Kurako's eye twitched slightly. Only Aoi would talk to a ghost like that.
Finally, the ghost sat on the bunk, kneeling with her hands in her lap, head bowed. Fumie was amazed she could actually sit; she was so sure the girl would pass right through the bed. "U-uhm..." the ghost murmured, reaching up to toy with a few strands of her constantly-moving hair. "M-my name's...A-Ayumu...Y-you're Pretty Cure." It clearly wasn't a question.
Kotone started. "How'd you know that?!" she demanded.
Ayumu flinched. "I...I walk all over th-the school...I s-see things."
"Well, that makes sense," Hisa admitted. Kaana nodded in agreement.
"B-but..." Ayumu began again. "I w-was wondering...w-well, when I first saw you fight..." Ayumu remembered that day, how she'd stood around the corner of the building, watching Pretty Cure fighting the bento Bakuko. How her non-existent heart had skipped a beat, and how there'd been this strange feeling of connecting. "I j-just knew...you'd be the ones t-to help me..."
Eyecatch 1: Fumie stands at an easel, tongue poking out slightly as she carefully dabs some paint onto the canvas. Satisfied, she steps back and spins the easel around to reveal a watercolor of Cure Ink, the PCBE logo where a signature should be.
Eyecatch 2: Kurako, Aoi, Kotone, Mari, Uta, Kaana and Hisa all sit down on the floor, watching Fumie. Fumie stands at a podium and bangs a rubber gavel, calling the club meeting to order. The PCBE logo appears in the corner.
"Alright! Operation send Ayumu to Heaven is a go!" Fumie declared, standing before Sparkling Fountain with her fist in the air. Behind her, the water splashed, making her look a bit dynamic. She grinned, baring her teeth. "Ayumu will go to Heaven or I'm a bad Pretty Cure!"
Hisa opted not to say the obvious retort. Besides, Fumie had improved quite a bit already.
"Help you?" Fumie had echoed, blinking. She held her hand to her chin, thinking hard. Hmmm, when a ghost needed help, it was usually because... "Ah, you want to go to heaven!" she suddenly declared, smacking her fist into an open palm.
Ayumu shook her head timidly. "Er-actually..."
"Alright! Don't you worry, Ayumu! We'll send you along!"
"E-Eh?"
"Poor Ayumu was so happy she couldn't speak," Fumie smiled, hopping down from the fountain. "Okay, we better hurry though! Who knows how long she's been wandering around the world of the living!"
"Wait a minute, Fumie!" Kurako chimed in, chasing after her as she ran into the crowded square. "We don't know the first thing about that!"
Kotone sighed, sticking her hands in her pockets as she and Aoi began walking after them. "She's right though. We really don't have a clue - I mean, I think I know how to get rid of a ghost; salt and candles and stuff, but helping one move on?"
Aoi smiled, adjusting her glasses so the light shone off them. "Don't worry about that, Kotone. I know just the place we can get answers!"
"A-And then she yelled at me! At me! Adorable, wonderful me!" Kemuri whined, kicking her feet and pounding the small table with her fists. She and Fureyaa sat outside a small ice-cream shop, some cheap sundaes before them. Fureyaa was nearly done with his, but Kemuri had been too busy whining to even start hers. She sniffled dramatically, poking at the sundae dish. "I just wanted to help Nocturna and make her proud of me, but then she had to get all mean!"
Fureyaa stuck the spoon in his mouth again, taking a moment to savor the chocolate sauce before he went on. "Maybe she was just tired? She just woke up, after all."
Kemuri brightened up suddenly. "Hey, yeah! You're right-she sleeps a lot and had just woken up! I bet she was just cranky! Yup, that's totally it!" She beamed as she finally started to dig into her half-melted sundae. "There'll be plenty more times to make her proud anyway. We still got the Dream Charm, and I bet there's another Shard hanging around somewhere-"
Fureyaa didn't hear any of what came after that. He'd suddenly spotted Pretty Cure, Aoi in the lead, walking off towards a small, shady-looking store. And behind them trailed a girl, so pale she appeared to be glowing, and almost-unnoticeable. Fureyaa choked and dropped his spoon. "Pretty-!" He stood up, pushing his sundae at Kemuri. "Be right back, Kemuri!" he called as he ran into the crowd.
"Reeeh? Fureyaa, wait for meee!" Kemuri cried as she chased after him.
Shortly afterwards, the waitress came out. "Can I help you with anythi-Huh?" She stood there a few more moments, blinking in surprise. "They didn't want to finish their ice-creams?"
The bell attached to the door jingled as Pretty Cure slowly stepped inside. The shop, cluttered and cramped with old, creaking shelves, knick-knacks piled high everywhere you looked, and a few cobwebs here and there, was dimly-lit and dusty. Kurako coughed into her fist.
"Aoi, are you sure we'll find something here?" Kotone asked, walking further inside and glancing around.
Before Aoi could answer, a deep, throaty voice spoke up. "Ohoho, you'll find everything you need here!"
Everyone jumped at the voice, turning to look in the direction it had come from. Standing behind the counter, almost unnoticeable behind the dusty-looking books and a globe on the countertop, was the shopkeeper. Her smiled at the girls, pushing his reading glasses up his nose and calling attention to the dark lines under his eyes. "So," he said, not opening his eyes once. "What are you all here for?"
"U-uhm...d-do you have anything on-?" Kotone began.
"It's ghosts, isn't it?" the man asked.
"H-How'd you know?" Fumie gasped, eyes wider than they'd ever been.
The man laughed, running his fingers through his green, gray-streaked hair. "I have my ways, ohoho~ I think this book is what you need!" He reached into a seemingly-random pile, produced a book from the middle without even looking at the title, and handed it over. Kurako took it hesitantly, making a face when she saw the dust on the cover. "Well, there you are. You're Atama students, aren't you? Normally this book would cost you thirty dollars, but for an Atama group, I'll halve that for you." He smiled again, holding out a hand palm-up.
The girls all glanced at each other as they reached into their pockets to chip in on the payment.
"How'd he even know we were Atama students?" Kurako asked later, as they all sat in the park. Luckily for them, no one wanted to go to the park today, just shop, so they were alone. No one would have to see them doing something so odd.
"I dunno - maybe he's a janitor?" Fumie ventured.
"A janitor who's also a shop-keeper? Shouldn't one job be enough?"
"Perhaps it's simply a hobby," Aoi said as she opened the book.
Ayumu stood in front of the group, wringing her hands. "Y-You d-d-don't have to d-do this..." she began quietly. "I-I m-mean I think-"
Fumie smiled, giving her the thumbs-up sign. "Nope, nope, nope! Think nothing of it, Ayumu! You'll be going towards the light in no time!"
"But I don't need-"
"Okay, let's get this started!"
For the next ten minutes, they at least tried. They threw salt at her; Ayumu squeaked and covered her face. Aoi tried jangling a bell over her head; Ayumu just looked at it blankly. Near the end of it, Fumie finally sat on Kotone's shoulders and tried to lift Ayumu upwards, but all that happened then was that the two humans collapsed in a heap and Ayumu gently floated back downwards.
Aoi flipped through the pages nervously. "Uhm-we could tr-no, that won't do, we tried something similar. Or maybe-no, not that, that's...or how about-hnnn, no..."
Ayumu wrung her hands, staring at her bare feet. "U-uhm...P-Pretty Cure, I appreciate the offers v-v-very much, a-and the s-sent-sentiment...but I'm not h-here for that." She lifted her head a little, the corners of her mouth turned down ever-so-slightly. "U-Uhm...I think...I just need to f-find something."
"You mean..." Fumie frowned. "You need to find something...and then you'll move on?"
"I-If...if that's what us-usually happens..." Ayumu mumbled, twisting her hands around each other again. "I d-don't know what'll happen...b-but I don't even know wh-what to f-f-find..."
There were a few moments of silence at that. She was supposed to find something, but if she didn't even know what that was, then how were they even going to help? How to even begin? Fumie sighed, finally standing up and approaching the ghost girl, resting her hands on her shoulders. "Hey, Ayumu," she said, cheerful once more. "Don't worry about it!"
"H-huh?" Ayumu looked up again.
Fumie just smiled, tilting her head a bit. "Don't worry about it. If you focus too much on what you can't remember, then you'll never remember. It's just like me and my art...sometimes I can't find my muse, but if I keep focusing on finding it, I won't find it fast enough. When you open your ind up, focus on other things for a while and stop worrying...then you'll remember." She grinned with her teeth showing, giving Ayumu the thumbs-up. "And then you come straight to us and we'll help you find it!"
Behind her, Pretty Cure nodded, starting to smile a bit themselves.
Ayumu stared for a few moments, her hair still moving and shifting, bangs parting just a little more to expose her other eye. After a moment she let out a quick, short laugh, shutting her eyes and ducking her head. "O-Okay!" she squeaked, smiling a tiny bit. Reaching up with a pale, glowing hand to brush away some tears.
"Hey, hey, Ayumu, are you crying?"
"N-No!"
"You sure? Because I didn't think ghosts could cry, so-"
"I'm not crying!"
In the forest surrounding the park, Kemuri fell to her knees, clutching her chest in pain. The Dream-Eating Crane crumpled in her fist, useless now. She breathed heavily, lifting her head up. "Wh-what is this...?" she growled.
Beside her, Fureyaa tentatively put a hand on his own chest, frowning lightly. It was strange; Kemuri was reacting as if a Dream Shard was around but...
...he felt nothing. He should be in pain like her, he should be in pain like he was when he first met Cure Ink. So why wasn't he?
He wasn't even sure if there was a Dream Shard around til he glanced around and spotted a faint glowing light under the bushes. And then saw it start to rise. With a yelp, he lunged at it, grabbing it in his fist and tugging it towards his chest. "Phew," he sighed before looking up.
Pretty Cure was leaving the park-
-and that ghost girl was trailing after them, wiping her eyes.
And the Dream Shard was still tugging in his hand. He let go of it, and saw it begin to float towards her. Towards the ghost. He snatched it up again, giving Ayumu's retreating form a strange look as he went back to Kemuri.
ED: "Lead Me There" - YUME featuring Mari
Fumie: "Wow, lucky us! We didn't have to battle today!"
Kurako: "We won't always be so lucky...Ah, excuse me a moment."
Fumie: "Eh? Where's Kurako going?"
Kotone: "She's not on the swim team, so why is she...? Phwah! It's the masked guy again!"
Aoi: "Next time on Pretty Cure Bukatsudo Energetic: No Running, No Drowning! I Want the Gold! Don't be late for next meeting!"
