"B-But mom, I don't wanna be seen like this and--"
Lili was cut off when her mother pushed her into the schoolbus. "Lili, you have to tell everyone about the news!" Mrs. Ishiba told her.
"But what if someone laughs at me?" Lili wondered.
Mrs. Ishiba just shook her head. "Nobody's gonna laugh at you, sweetie. You have a reputation, remember? And nothing's gonna take it from you." she encouraged.
Lili smiled at her mother and walked into the bus with a gulp. Unless I don't keep my mouth closed. she thought, placing a finger over her lips. She walked towards a seat and sat down, taking out a book to read.
However, someone disrupted her concentration.
"Ohayoooo Lilikan!" Chiara cheered, popping out of nowhere and glomping the lemon-haired girl, surprising her very much.
Ayameko and Hanae then walked up towards the two. "Good morning, girls. Apparently, Chia-chan is as cheerful as ever, right?" Hanae asked.
Chiara's head then went up and down like a little bobblehead doll. Lili, on the other hand, giggled sheepishly, trying her best not to open her mouth. Ayameko analyzed the latter's expression and raised an eyebrow. "Uh, Lili… Is anything wrong withcha?" she asked her.
Lili just shook her head and sweatdropped at them in embarrassment, before sighing silently to herself. That was going to be HARD to keep up with.
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(OP: "Do You Believe in Magic ~Mahou wo Shinjiteru~" - DivaCure 5)
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Clouds.
Why do they look like cotton and not blood?
Ashley asked such thing to herself that afternoon. How could people be interested on things that just stay there, up in the sky, as they shift away slowly? It's so… dull. Maybe they thought that one day one of them would fall down and become a flying car that would transport them to a perfect world and…
Sensing that she was starting to think about dumb girly things again, Ashley shook her head and her eyes returned to her book.
On the other hand, Aurora-sensei was giving class about the law of inertia, as she wrote about it on the chalkboard. "Aristotle explained the continued motion of projectiles, which are separated from their projector, by the action of the surrounding medium which continues to move the projectile in some way. As a consequence, Aristotle concluded that such violent motion in a void was impossible for there would be nothing there to keep the body in motion against the resistance of its own gravity…"
Lili was paying clear attention to the teacher's explanation, but still hoping that no one would find out what happened to her. A drop of sweat ran down her face, trying to control her hands.
Finally, she couldn't take it anymore and clasped a hand over her mouth, wiping the sweat away from her face. Unfortunately, there is always someone to ruin your fun.
"Sensei! Lili wants to puke at her seat!"
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After such an embarrassing moment, the lemon-haired girl just wanted to hide inside a trashcan and never come out again. She looked behind herself; so far no one was laughing at her or anything. She sighed in relief, sitting below the sakura tree and opening her bento box. It would be all okay…
…If she wasn't sitting just beside Chloe. "Lilikan? Are you sick or anything?" she asked her.
Lili's red orbs just widened as she backed away shivering. She covered her mouth, trying not to speak. Chloe just sighed, looking up at the cyan-colored sky. "Look, if you were sick or anything, you should have warned us."
The lemon-haired girl simply nodded, feeling more and more nervous. She turned towards the left…
There were some ants creeping up towards her bento.
"KYAAAAAA~!"
Lili tumbled over Chloe as the two fell down. "I'm terribly sorry, Chloe-chan! Are you okay?" the lemon-haired girl asked, forgetting completely about shutting her mouth.
"It's okay, Lilikan, I just--" Chloe stopped mid-phrase when she noticed something strange inside her friend's mouth, "Oh my."
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TODAY'S EPISODE:
Shocking Surprise: Lili's Wearing Braces?!
Shougeki na Sapuraizu: Riri no Mi ni Tsuke Tekakko?! (衝撃的なサプライズ：リリーの身に着けてかっこ？！)
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"Ehh? You've become a braceface, Lilikan?"
Lili nodded sadly, opening her mouth and showing the small metal chains around her teeth, decorated with teal bands. Chiara looked at them in amazement; she loved things that sparkled in the light. "So cute~!" she chirped.
"But why are you wearing them anyways?" asked Hanae.
Her lemon-haired friend took a deep breath and explained the whole thing to them. It was because some of her teeth were out of place, and the braces were helping said teeth straighten up. She chose teal for the bands' color because, since she was younger, she always loved the color teal.
After explaining, she grabbed onto Hanae's shirt and burst into tears. "Please don't tell this to anyone else?! I don't wanna be labeled as a geek or anything!" Lili told her, before starting to sob.
Chloe tapped her shoulder with a soft smile. "Don't worry, Lilikan." she told her, "They would never label you. And even if they did, you should be happy. Geeks have their own beauty too."
Lili turned towards her, wiping the tears away from her naturally red eyes. "You… really think so?" she asked.
Chloe just nodded warmly. "Tomorrow, there will be a performance of a Frog Princess ballet by Tsukimiya's resident ballet group, and Hana-tan suggested we brought you along so it could make you feel better." she told her.
Lili just smiled and nodded in response, touching her lips lightly as if a cute guy suddenly came over and kissed her.
After all, it was all to make her happy.
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The night sky is always beautiful, and tonight it was no exception.
Ashley looked up at the stars, shining intensely as always and forming undiscovered constellations. As she kept on staring, Chloe walked up and sat besides her.
"What do you want?" asked Ashley.
Chloe just swept a cherry-red lock behind her ear as she looked at her black-haired classmate. "Oh, nothing in particular. I just saw you there and wanted to stargaze too." she replied, laying down onto the grass.
Ashley raised an eyebrow at her. "So that's what it's called? Stargaze?" she wondered.
Chloe nodded, letting Ashley lay down beside her. "Yup. How many constellations did you find yet?" the cherry-redhead asked her.
The black-haired girl just shrugged, keeping her usual cold look.
"Well, I spotted one right there." Chloe giggled, pointing towards a certain spot on the sky, "Don'tcha think it looks like a little campanula flower?"
Ashley just looked down at the ground. The two were laying on a field of ebony black roses; in fact, Oriyama was the only city in the entire Japan to have natural black roses blooming. They usually bloomed in the beginning of the year, hence why they were so rare. However, in the middle of all the black roses, was a single white one. White like the pale moon shining above the two girls.
A white rose…
"Hey, Ash, something wrong?" asked Chloe, raising an eyebrow.
Ashley shook her head and turned towards her. "I was distracted. Nothing too drastic." She told her, standing up and walking away.
Chloe sat up and reached for her. "Ashley, wait! Where are you going?!" she asked her. The moonlight was reflected on her peridot green eyes.
"Away." Ashley replied with her usual monotone, "I'm going away."
She then began leaving as she stepped on the roses and left her footprints on them, without knowing or caring. Fortunately, when she was about to step on the white rose, she stopped for a while and skipped it, before continuing on her way to where she called 'home'.
Chloe just looked down at her feet before glancing towards the stars. She then remembered the promise she made earlier that day. Tomorrow, she would have quite a lot of work to do.
"I wonder how Lili is feeling right now…"
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And so the next day finally came.
At the Ishiba household, Lili stretched herself as she sat up and left the bed, twirling a lock of her hair before taking off her navy blue and white pajamas.
She put on whichever clothes she felt like putting on: a white tee decorated with teal hearts that matched her braces, black pants and brown shoes, as well as tying her hair into a ponytail. To help people be distracted from the metal chains binding her teeth, she put cherry blossom hairclips on her hair.
Suddenly, something broke through the window and landed on the bed. Lili took it on her hands; it was a random rock. No, not a gemstone or anything of that sort, just an old plain rock. She looked down the broken window to see Chloe and the rest of Purikyua-gumi waving at her.
"You're too late, Lilikan~!"
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(Eyecatch 1: At first, there are pink and black rosebuds. Then, they both bloom to reveal Cure Rosa and Leather Ashes standing on them, as Rosa hugs Ashes with a winkand a tiny PCPP logo appears on the left of the screen.)
(Eyecatch 2: Pittan hops in wearing a Cure Rosa outfit and does some weird poses before getting hit by Ayameko's paper fan. Then the other girls, Lavvie and Lotus laugh as Ayameko grins, Pittan rubs his head while he cries waterfalls, and a tiny PCPP logo appears on the left of the screen.)
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At the Gekijou Movie-Stage, our heroines and their braceface friend waited for the big performance to begin.
Suddenly, the lights went out, startling them.
A spotlight lit up, as the main dancer, clad in her very own lilypad tutu, came into view. Lili eyed her as she danced around the stage, faking a naïve and innocent persona. Shion Unabara, apparently that was her name. But onstage, she was known as the one and only, the Frog Princess.
Just then, she noticed something sparkling inside Shion's mouth. "You see that sparkle?" asked Chloe.
It turned out Shion was a braceface herself just like Lili. During her teen years, she had a complex of having wonky teeth and only a few years ago she was actually strong enough to start wearing braces. And even because of that, she didn't care; people would only pay attention to her feet right now.
Lili smiled once Chloe explained all of that to her. "So that means I can be happy even with metal on my teeth?" the lemon-haired girl asked the cherry-redhead.
Chloe nodded. "You just have to get over it." She told her with a wink.
However, the six girls were unaware of what would happen next. At the backstage, Gaabeitan walked in, holding the Ash-Powder Ylang-Ylang flower, with a determined look on his face. That was the last straw; if he didn't manage to defeat Pretty Cure this time, he would vow to himself he'd never do it again.
Because this time, he would be the infected one.
The denizen proceeded to put on some ballet slippers and, with a gulp, pushed the flower towards his chest, as he was surrounded by a black aura and slowly morphed into a large ebony birdman, still with the trashcan lid on his chest.
Gaabeitan leaped onto the stage, holding onto Shion's hand and grabbing her by the arms. Chloe just blinked at this sudden appearance. I don't remember a birdman in the original Frog Princess story… she thought.
Cherry-red eyebrows narrowed.
Chloe turned towards Lili as she stood up. "Lilikan, hold on right there." She told her, before whispering something towards her teammates. The five ran towards some curtains and… yup, it's exactly what you're thinking.
"Pretty Cure's Scent of Love! Transmutation, Now!"
There it goes again. Ya know, I wonder what the henshin would look like without the sparkles. It would be pretty dull, but for me it would certainly be interesting. Purr.
"Pinku no Bara no Namae wa, Watashi wa Kyua Rosa!"
"Kiiro no Banirahana no Namae wa, Watashi wa Kyua Banira!"
"Murasaki no Jazumin no Namae wa, Watashi wa Kyua Jazumin!"
"Orenji no Tanjyerinehana no Namae wa, Watashi wa Kyua Tanjyerine!"
"Midori no Karudamon no Namae wa, Watashi wa Kyua Karudamomo!"
"Purufyuumu Purepi!" the five shouted, getting into their respective poses. Rosa then twirled and gave a wink with a smile as she completed, "Yappari kaori ga ii!"
Gaabeitan growled as he let go of Shion, heading towards Lili. Just when he was about to attack her, Tangerine gave him a hard ballerina kick, followed by Jasmine and Rosa's double punch. The Ylang-Ylang denizen tried standing up, but was blocked by Cardamomo, who pinned him to the ground.
"Don't even think about it." She told him before kicking his face.
Such kick sent the birdman monster to the other side of the stage, where he was punched and beaten the living daylights up by no other than Shion.
Rosa's eyes widened as she looked at the green-clad prima donna. "Masaka… Shion-sama, I always thought you tried your best to be graceful!" she told her in disbelief.
"Sometimes, you don't need to trust in everything you hear." Shion simply winked at her, "When I was just your age, I was a Pretty Cure like you and your friends. Cure Chamoly, the white Cure and leader of the generation of Pretty Cures that came before you guys."
Vanilla's eyes shone. "Étonnant!" she chirped, "Can you help us?"
Shion just shook her head. "I do not have the power to defeat any monster anymore, but since you are Pretty Cure, you are the only ones who can do such thing." She told them.
Rosa simply nodded, turning towards Gaabeitan. "Minna, time to flood this place!" she called out to her teammates. The five held out their Humming Birds, as a colorful burst of light lit up the place. Next thing you knew, they were surrounded by a rainbow aura, back to back as they formed a circle. Rosa's eyes burst open as she called out, "Group Formation! Shirubaa Rosa Hamingu Barudu, Furu Pawaa!" She raised her Humming Bird, which began glowing pink.
The others did the same. "Shirubaa Banira Hamingu Barudu, Furu Pawaa!"
"Shirubaa Jazumin Hamingu Barudu, Furu Pawaa!"
"Shirubaa Tanjerin Hamingu Barudu, Furu Pawaa!"
"Shirubaa Karudamomo Hamingu Barudu, Furu Pawaa!"
As soon as the five Humming Birds were set up, the tips of their beaks touched, and they fired a huge blast upwards. Said blast became a giant glowing ball which floated above our heroines as they positioned the Humming Birds in front of their chests and said, "Minna no Tsubasa to Kaori no Chikara, Ikaku wo Shimekukuri!"
Finally, the Birds were raised up again, this time towards the denizen. "Purikyua Shirubaa Sento… TSUNAMI~!" they shouted.
And instantly, the ball sprouted out the huge colorful wave which splashed its way towards Gaabeitan and crashed on him, leaving him all wet.
Rosa then took her Humming Bird and clicked the tip of its beak on her nose, before pointing it back towards the denizen monster. "Charge~!" she yelled.
With that, Gaabeitan froze in his spot, as he began glowing and the Ash-Powder flower turned into dust, changing him back into his normal self. However, something was different. His face now had a tender look, as a soft smile was formed on his face.
"Raflesina-sama… I'll always love you…"
These were his last words before he slowly turned into dust, being blown away with the wind. Rosa's pink eyes widened. "Raflesina-sama?" she wondered, "He loved… Raflesina?"
Jasmine rolled her eyes. "Why would anyone love that bastard?"
"It doesn't matter." Shion said, tapping the purple Cure's shoulder, "All that matters is that you managed to defeat another monster." Just then, she looked inside Jasmine's eyes and a thought occurred to her.
Could she be… Risa-chan's daughter?
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The next day, bright and early at Oriyama Junior High, Lili walked off the schoolbus, thinking about what happened during the previous day. She turned around to see some passerby students waving hello to her.
The lemon-haired girl just smiled and waved back. "Ohayou." She said, braces twinkling in the sun.
Suddenly, one of the passerbies approached her, staring inside her mouth like Chiara did previously. "Whoa, Ishiba, since when you have braces?" he asked her in interest.
Lili just blushed. "Just a few days ago…"
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(ED: "My Dear Friend" – Uchiyae Yuka)
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NEXT EPISODE PREVIEW:
Aurora-sensei: After 25 years I finally found the man of my dreams…
Chloe: Sugoi! Girls, let's get the work started!
Hanae: Hey, Ashley, wanna join us?
Ashley: What?! I never did this kind of thing before…
Lavvie: Teehee… I wonder what weddings are like on Earth.
Chloe: Believe me, it's really fun! Next time on Pretty Cure Perfume Preppy: "Toss the Bouquet! Aurora-sensei's White Wedding"! Hanekaeshita anata wo uketomeru!