Chapter 20: Old Enemies, New Friends

Summary: Sumire and Yuri hold a one-on-one competition together, and affirm their newfound friendship.

Thursday, August 17th 20XX, Evening
Beach, Kukojima, Okinawa Prefecture

After coming back from their Ferris wheel date in Suzushino, the Phantom Thieves bade an emotional farewell to Sumire, Yuna, and Yuri, leaving themselves and Zenkichi to discuss their next move. However, Futaba's analysis of Yuri's smartphone left them little insight to go on until they received a phone call from Kuon Ichinose, a researcher whom they had met back in Sendai. Having done some research of her own, Ichinose tipped them off about a research laboratory, owned by Madicce, in the Okinawan archipelago. Following this lead, the team crossed all the way from one corner of Japan to the other, finally landing by ferry upon the island of Kukojima days later. Once they had conducted an initial investigation of the island, the group decided to indulge in some relaxation time at the nearby beach. Everyone, including Zenkichi and Sophia, enjoyed their time basking on the white sands and in the turquoise waters. Ren helped gather materials for Makoto to try out suikawari, the blindfolded watermelon-smashing game. And as the daylight faded into a golden sunset, they all shared a delicious barbecue feast together.

But there was one more thing they were looking forward to that day. Before they all left Sapporo, Sumire expressed an interest in setting up a video chat between them, and given everyone's schedules, they worked out that evening as the best time to do so. The Phantom Thieves changed out of their swimsuits and back into their day clothes, and Futaba set up her laptop on the table inside the Phantomobile, positioning it so everyone could see the screen and be seen by its webcam. The live image they saw next was of Sumire, who had set up her own laptop in her local gym in Tokyo. "Hi, Sumire!" they all greeted her in unison.

"Hi, everyone!" she smiled back, leaning into the screen with a smile. Dressed in her training clothes, she looked like she had just wrapped up a strenuous, yet satisfying, workout. Standing beside her was Yuri Hikawa, who had just come off a training session of her own in a white-and-gray ensemble of a T-shirt and tights. She bowed and smiled at her virtual guests. From the other end, the Phantom Thieves greeted and waved to her as well. They had been notified of this change in plans, and did not object. "So, where are you calling from?" asked Sumire.

"Okinawa, baby!" Ryuji burst out. He and the others took turns raving about all the fun activities they did that day.

Despite feeling a little envious of their good times, Sumire was, more than anything, happy for her friends. "Oh, it sounds like you had lots of fun. I wish I could've joined you!"

"Not me," admitted Yuri. "I'm no good with the sun, 'cause… Well, I kinda burn easily. You can guess why. I need to wear a big hat and shades just to go out on a sunny day!"

"I still kinda miss you though, Sumi-chan… In fact, we all do. Tell you what, next year we'll bring you along for another big beach vacation! What do you say?"

"Oh, I'd love that, Senpai! I've always wanted to visit Okinawa!"

"How about Bali?" suggested Yuri. "Tahiti? The Greek islands? With my resources, I could set up something big for all of us!"

Ren allowed himself a brief chuckle. "Now there's an idea, Hikawa-san! So, what have you two been up to in Tokyo?"

"We're still on summer break, so we've mostly been training. Oh, we did get to go to the art museum yesterday."

"Really?" gasped Yusuke. "Did you happen to see any of my works?"

"Uh-huh," nodded Yuri. "There was this one piece, I think it was called 'Desire and Hope'." Yusuke nodded in turn, recognizing the name of his painting. "It was… chaotic. Gotta say, that big white splotch in the middle kinda ****s up the composition."

Taken aback, Yusuke gasped. "Why! How dare you insult-"

But Yuri cut him off and continued, "But then, when I thought about it, I saw the conflict you wanted to portray. Hope versus desire, and all that… Kinda reminds me of what I've been through. Kasumi used to be the hope in my life, and now, I guess it's you, Sumire. I wouldn't mind having a few of your works in my home, Kitagawa-san!"

To Yusuke, this more than made up for her earlier criticism, which he came to take as a joke. "Splendid, Hikawa-san! Have you also considered commissioning any costume designs from me? I would be willing to give you a discount. After all, a friend of Yoshizawa-san is a friend of mine!"

"That's very generous of you, Kitagawa-san! I'll certainly keep you in mind when the time comes, but I'm afraid I'll have to pass for the moment. It's complicated…"

"What do ya mean, Yuri?" Ryuji asked. "How are things goin' with you?"

"Not great," Yuri sighed. "After you guys left, I got my sentence from the International Gymnastics Federation. They've suspended me from all official competitions for a year." The Phantom Thieves let out a mix of gasps and sympathetic groans. As their former enemy, they knew she deserved this kind of punishment, but as their newest friend, they still felt sorry for her. "Then, after everything that happened last week, my parents kinda… kicked me out of the house."

"For real? That sucks…"

"Actually, it's more like they've transferred me to a new school," she backtracked. "Starting next semester, I'll be staying over at Gekkoukan High School."

"Hey, Gekkoukan!" Ryuji smiled when he recognized that name. "I've heard of 'em! They've got a lot of great sports clubs. Think they got rhythmic gymnastics there, too?"

Yuri nodded, but frowned. "They do, I checked, but…"

"What's the matter, Yuri-chan?" asked Haru.

"I… I'm afraid of what everyone's gonna think of me. Even before the Madicce Cup, I've kinda had a bad reputation among the RG community."

"I can imagine," said Makoto, "given what happened to Sumire during your Saint Petersburg tryouts."

"Yeah… For what it's worth, she's forgiven me for what I did back then."

Ren smiled, feeling a heavy load lift itself off from his psyche. "I'm glad to hear that, you two." He thought better of telling them out loud, but he reasoned to himself that if Sumire couldn't handle the mind games she played on her, then she certainly wouldn't have fared much better against the stress of international competition.

"Ya know, Yuri," Ryuji said, "me an' Yuna talked about somethin' like that when we were on the Ferris wheel together. She said she gets a lot of **** 'cause of bein' half-Korean, half-Japanese. But when life gets her down, she just goes out there and performs her best, to give the haters somethin' else to talk about."

"Good for her," she sighed pensively. "Guess I should've listened to her when I had the chance, and maybe I wouldn't have ended up like I did."

"Where is Yuna-chan, anyway?" asked Ann.

Sumire answered the question. "I'm sorry, she couldn't make it. She had to go back home to Korea. But she said she'll come back to Japan for school, once the new semester starts."

"Oh, that's nice! Do you know where?"

"She didn't say. But if you like, I can try to arrange a get-together with her once she does."

"We'd love that!"

Cutting in, Futaba eagerly exclaimed, "Oh! Sumire! I gotta show you something. It's a little something I made for Sophia." She connected Ren's phone to the laptop and, typing in a few quick commands, set up her video connection to display its screen to Sumire instead of themselves. When she called Sophia's name, the ruby-haired avatar popped up and waved to Sumire.

"Aww, hello Sophia!" Sumire cooed.

Yuri, who had never seen Sophia in person, gazed on with curiosity. "Ooh, what is this?"

"It's, uh… an AI assistant that I'm… beta-testing!" Futaba's voice bluffed. "Not the creepy kind like EMMA or anything. Her name's Sophia. Say hello to Yuri, Sophie."

"Hello, Yuri. I am Sophia, humanity's companion. …Have we met before?"

Fearing that she may have been referring to Yuri's Monarch form she fought in the Metaverse, Sumire interrupted, "Yuri-chan is my new friend, Sophia. She's apologized for what she's done to me in the past, and from now on, we're going to work together to become great gymnasts!"

"My apologies for the misunderstanding, Hikawa-san. I am pleased to meet you." Yuri smiled and bowed in return, charmed by the AI's presence.

"So, my little phone daughter," Sumire asked, "what have you been up to lately?"

"I had fun today, Sumire. I swam in the ocean with Ren. It was beautiful!"

"More like I swam with my phone out underwater," Ren explained. Hearing Sophia say such kind things made him grateful for the waterproof case he had bought for his phone. "She can look out through its camera."

"That's some amazing technology," Sumire said, keeping up the charade. "I'm glad you and Senpai are having such wonderful adventures together, Sophie-chan!"

"That's not the half of it," Futaba said smugly. "Peep this!" She typed in a few more commands, launching a special app that she had previously loaded onto the phone. Its display changed, showing a virtual environment resembling a gymnasium. Sophia also appeared in this environment, in the modified dress leotard she had worn while fighting in Yuri's Castle. "Sophia said she enjoyed doing rhythmic gymnastics, so I made up a gym for her to train in!"

Sumire's eyes lit up. "Wow! This is amazing, Futaba-chan! How long have you been working on this?"

"Off and on," she said casually. "I actually started this a while ago, but we had some downtime over the past few days, so I modified it to work with Sophia. Show 'em what you got!" On Futaba's command, a ball spawned in Sophia's hand, with which she demonstrated a few advanced sequences. Given the fact that she was a digital being, unbound by the same limitations and laws of physics as flesh-and-blood gymnasts, she pulled them off flawlessly and effortlessly.

Sumire watched on, and applauded when Sophia finished her last stunts. "That was incredible! You're so talented, both of you! Sophia-chan, I take it you enjoy doing this?"

"Yes, Sumire-chan. After watching the Madicce Cup finals with Ren, I'm beginning to understand why people compete in sports like these. Like you and Ren said, it is a way to express emotions through your movements, music, and dress. I want to express my curiosity for the human world. But, most of all, I feel proud of what I can accomplish."

"Good for you, Sophia-chan! I agree, it is a lot of hard work, but when you finally nail down a routine, it all feels worthwhile!"

"I guess that would be a lot easier for you, though," Yuri added with a laugh.

Seeming to ignore the laughter, Sophia matter-of-factly answered, "My training consists of analyzing performances from other gymnasts, and recreating their routines autonomously, without being pre-programmed. Futaba's software also judges me in accordance with the Code of Points, so I can try to improve upon their original scores!"

Sumire beamed, feeling proud of her "phone daughter". "Well, good luck, Sophia-chan! Have you tried any other apparatuses?"

Futaba answered this question. "I've implemented the hoop and clubs as well, but the ribbon physics are a lot more complex, so that's gonna take a while. Still, I'm hoping I can share this here setup as part of a game or something!"

"Yo, Futaba," Ryuji said, laying a hand on her shoulder. "If you do that, make sure ya don't give the rights away for free, like you did last time. Don't want someone else makin' money offa your own work, do ya?"

Annoyed by this reminder, Futaba grumbled, "Cram it, Ryuji."

Giggling at their antics, Sumire said, "Anyway, thank you for showing me that, Futaba-chan. Now, Yuri-chan and I have something to show you. Would you mind putting your webcam back on for me, please?" Futaba complied with her request, typing in a few more commands.

Once the video feed on her end displayed the Phantomobile's physical interior, Yuri told them, "As you know, I never took part in the Madicce Cup finals, and I won't be able to enter other competitions for some time. So, Sumire and I are holding a mock competition with each other, right here and now!"

"Good idea, you two!" Makoto said. "It's nice to keep your skills sharp. That way, you'll be ready when you are allowed to compete again."

Yuri nodded in agreement. "Plus, I'd really like to show off some of the new routines that I haven't been able to perform in public yet. I won't spoil much, but after everything that's happened, I think they've taken on new meaning!"

"Nice!" Ren said eagerly. Considering the routine Sumire and his friends worked on behind his back, he had high expectations for Yuri as well. "So who's judging?"

"Hiraguchi-san," Sumire answered, "along with Murasaki-san - she's Hanako's coach - and Hanako herself. As a gymnast, Hanako-chan's as smart as she is skilled. She memorized the latest Code of Points practically as soon as it came out!"

"Nice!" exclaimed Futaba. "Can Sophia judge too?"

Sumire was unsure at first. "I don't know, we weren't planning on it… It's hard to explain why, but I'd feel better to be judged by a human - I mean, someone in the room with us." Seeing Futaba's disappointed frown, she added, "…Tell you what, you can go ahead and work out our scores for yourself. We just won't use them unless there's a dispute. I'm actually kind of curious to see how accurate you are, Sophie-chan!"

"Thanks, Sumire! Are you two gonna get changed first?" Sumire and Yuri nodded in unison. "You do that, and I'll set Sophia back up. That good?"

"Sure!" With their approval, the Phantom Thieves wished them luck as they strode off to the locker room and changed into their first leotards. When they returned, Sumire in her purple dress leotard and Yuri in white, Coach Hiraguchi stepped into view to announce the start of their mock competition and briefly run down its format. Starting with Sumire, they would take turns performing their hoop, ball, clubs, and ribbon routines in that order. The three judges would all work together on calculating the both difficulty and execution scores, and the combined scores from all four events would determine the winner. Since her laptop was placed on the judges' table, the Phantom Thieves couldn't see the judges themselves, but they did have a view of almost the entire mat. This setup allowed them to enjoy the show as Sumire held up her hoop to begin her first routine.

As Sumire was still relatively weaker with other apparatuses besides the ribbon, Yuri took the lead in each of the first three events. However, they did notice that Yuri's scores were a few tenths of a point lower than what she managed during the Madicce Cup qualifiers, the last time she had performed before her Change of Heart took place. Was the aftermath of her atonement causing a lack of self-confidence? It was plausible, but everyone besides Yuri herself could only speculate. At the same time, Sumire had managed to improve her own scores by a slight degree over what she got at the Madicce Cup, closing the gap. All the while, Sophia's projected scores proved to be amazingly accurate, only differing from what the actual judges came up with by slim fractions of a point, if at all. Futaba suggested that, if the AI girl had a higher-quality video feed to work with, preferably on-site instead of over the Internet, she might be capable of even more precise estimates, but she impressed everybody regardless.

Following the first three rounds, Sumire returned to the mat in her new phoenix leotard, performing an encore of her ribbon routine that was such a hit at the Madicce Cup. Hanako and the coaches gave her a combined score of 18.050, only a slight improvement over what she got in Sapporo, but an improvement nonetheless. Hiraguchi remarked that, now that Sumire had more practice, she seemed to move more confidently this time around, especially during the triple-illusion risk from the routine's midpoint.

Finally, it was Yuri's turn to perform her ribbon routine. Watching remotely, the Phantom Thieves had not been able to see her once she had changed, so once she marched into view, they were in for a surprise. She had on a new leotard consisting of a shimmering aqua-blue torso, a pale miniskirt, and gossamer sleeves. It was, unmistakably, a costume made famous by a cartoon princess character popular in recent years. The ribbon she held in her hands, blue and white with a snowflake pattern, pulled the look together. "Oh my God, is that who I think it is?" Ann gasped gleefully.

A faint blush of embarrassment spread upon Yuri's face. "I know, I know. You don't have to say it. I'm the 'ice queen' and all that…" She sighed and said to herself, "This was a stupid idea."

"No, not at all!" Sumire assured her. "You look absolutely gorgeous, Yuri-chan!"

"She's right," Ann agreed. "If any gymnast can pull off that cosplay, it's you!"

"Thank you both." Yuri bowed and gave a deep breath, expelling out the remaining hangups in her mind. Finally at ease, she assumed her starting position, sitting down with legs folded against her chest, and announced to the judges, "I'm ready." A few seconds later, her music began.

The snow glows white on the mountain tonight
Not a footprint to be seen
A kingdom of isolation, and it looks like I'm the Queen

Flipping to her feet with a Valdez back-walkover, Yuri started her routine with wide, sweeping movements for both herself and her ribbon. She included lots of walkovers, as if it was her signature move, but each one had some kind of unique variation. Some were done one-handed, some were done with a toss and catch, and in one example, she stopped once her front foot returned to the floor and held a penché split balance, twirling the ribbon in a spiral behind her back.

The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside
Couldn't keep it in
Heaven knows I've tried

Throughout each line of the song, Yuri made good use of her facial expressions, highlighting the same moods her character expressed in the original scene it came from. Having experienced similar highs and lows in her recent life, she realized, turned out to be a big help in this regard. "She's very expressive," commented Futaba. "That's gonna go well with the judges." And it did.

Don't let them in, don't let them see
Be the good girl you always have to be
Conceal, don't feel, don't let them know
Well now they know

At the midpoint of her song, as if in response to Sumire's triple-illusion, Yuri showed off a big stunt of her own. Stopping briefly to wrap a section of her ribbon under her foot, she launched it up with a front walkover, turned in her step three times, and caught it just as she dove into a somersault. This technique which she had stumbled with so many times in practice, which so often ended by leaving a knot tied in her ribbon, now went off without a hitch. The relief from clearing this make-or-break point propelled Yuri into the second half of her routine with confidence.

Let it go, let it go
Can't hold it back any more
Let it go, let it go
Turn away and slam the door

As she progressed through her song's bombastic chorus, Yuri increased the intensity of her moves to match. A ring split balance, her back foot touching her head. A fouetté spin on par with anything Larisa Lebedeva could manage. Holding on to the end of her ribbon as she tossed her baton out, only to wind it back with a walkover and catch it. Every difficulty she attempted and accomplished drew gasps of wonderment from her onlookers.

I don't care
What they're going to say
Let the storm rage on
The cold never bothered me anyway

At the end of the song, as the singer held a long high note, Yuri performed a tremendous ring pivot. Holding her back foot above her head, she spun for five full rotations and whirled the ribbon around her in intricate waves. Then, right when the note faded out, she put her foot down to stop before dropping to her knees, hugging herself, and looking back at the judges with a cock of her eyebrow. The reaction from her audience, both local and remote, was instant and enthusiastic. Even Ren couldn't help but smile appreciatively as he clapped alongside his friends.

"Yuri's routine was very impressive. By my analysis, I estimate a score of at least 18.000. Of course, there are still many factors I'm not yet able to account for, from minute imperfections that are undetectable from the quality of this video stream, to how well she was able to convey her intended emotions throughout her performance."

"Don't worry about that, Sophie," said Ren. "You've learned so much about us humans since we've met, and I'm sure you'll learn loads more."

A moment later, the three judges finished compiling their own scores for Yuri. Instead of reading off Yuri's score then and there, however, Hiraguchi walked onto the mat with Sumire, holding hands with both competitors standing on either side of her. Once they were in position, she gave a nod to Hanako, who declared, "And now, the score for Yuri Hikawa's ribbon routine. Difficulty: 9.1. Execution: 9.200. Total score: 18.300."

"Thank you, Natsuki-san," Hiraguchi replied. "Ladies and…" She gave a knowing glance at the laptop. "…gentlemen, the winner is… Yuri Hikawa!" The coach lifted Yuri's hand up to indicate the victor. A new round of cheers rang out as the three of them bowed for their audience, and Sumire and Yuri gave another respectful bow for each other, followed by a great big hug.

"Congratulations, Yuri-chan!" Sumire said in her ear.

"Congratulations yourself, Sumire-chan," Yuri whispered back. "You were truly a worthy opponent." This recognition of her talents, which only a week ago would have been unthinkable, triggered a fresh wave of complex emotions within Sumire, who shed a few tears and squeezed her new friend tightly.

Wiping her eyes dry, Sumire let go and headed up to her laptop, followed closely by Yuri, to talk to her friends in Okinawa. "Wonderful job, you two!" Ren declared.

"Thank you, Senpai!", said Sumire. "I guess I still have a long way to go before I can fulfill my promise to Kasumi, but at the same time, I've come an even longer way, haven't I?"

"That's the spirit, Sumi-chan!"

Next, Yusuke told them, "My compliments to both of you for a fine display of athleticism and beauty."

Sumire looked over at her opponent with concern and asked, "What's the matter?"

"Oh, it's just… I still scored less than what Elena-san got in her finals. Guess I wasn't cut out to steal her crown after all…" Then, she smiled. "…Not yet, anyway."

"You'll get there eventually. After all, we've still got quite a few years left in our careers!" Sumire remembered what Ren and Futaba had imparted upon her when she felt down about her own prospects.

Yuri smiled, feeling relieved as she considered Sumire's words. "Gotta say, I really enjoyed training with you guys. You're a lot better to work with than my old coach. Can't say she didn't get results, but she put me under a lot of pressure to succeed. If it weren't for my dreams of making it to the top, I would've just given up long ago. I don't know who's gonna coach me at Gekkoukan, but compared to her, it ought to be a walk in the park."

"I'm glad you think that way," Makoto encouraged. "Now that you're out of competition, you should take a little time to refresh your mind as well as your body. Do something to de-stress yourself."

"There's a temple near my place that's a great place to meditate," Sumire suggested. "Senpai and I went there together last year, while he was staying in Tokyo."

"I'll try it out before I leave town. Thanks for the idea, Sumire!" Yuri said with a smile.

"Wait!" shouted the voice of Sophia. "Before you go, I would like to ask you and Yuri something." Futaba hurriedly put her back on-screen for the two gymnasts, who nodded and listened intently. "Based on the results of rhythmic gymnastics competitions that I have analyzed throughout the past few decades, it seems the most successful athletes in this sport primarily represent countries from the former Soviet bloc."

"Don't remind me…" Yuri sighed to herself. This was part of the reason for her despair, and for her attempts to use EMMA to disrupt the Madicce Cup.

Ignoring this, Sophia asked, "Why do you think that is?"

"I would say…" answered Yuri, "it's a source of national pride for those countries, especially Russia. They spend the most money on training their gymnasts, they have the best coaches, the best facilities, stuff like that."

From offscreen, Hanako added, "Also, in its current form, rhythmic gymnastics itself was created in the Soviet Union during the 1940s."

Yuri nodded and thanked the wunderkind. "Well, whatever the reason, I got really jealous over their dominance, and I wanted to do something about it. Of course, you all know how that ended up. I still want to put Japan into the conversation, but from now on I'll put in the work and do it fair and square. No more shortcuts."

"That's noble of you, Yuri-san," Sophia continued. "That said, I wish to know, why do gymnasts from less-successful countries compete?"

The two girls paused to think about this for a moment, and then Sumire gave her answer. "That's really more of a question for Yuna-chan," she admitted. "But, if she were here, I'm sure she'd say that we just compete because we love what we do, and want to represent our own countries while doing it. There's always the hope that, even if you're an underdog, you might still come out on top! And even if you don't, you can still strive to improve on what you've done before, and shine on your own merits!"

"She's right!" Futaba's voice cut in. "I've watched loads of routines over the past few months, once I got obsessed with RG myself. Some of my favorite gymnasts aren't the ones who win the golds, but the ones who show off something special with their routines!"

When Yuri heard this, her heart seemed to melt with a warm glow. "All my life, I taught myself that the only people worth a damn in this sport are the winners, but here you are telling me that's not the case." She reflected on how impressed Yusuke told her he was with her routines in particular. "…And you know what? You're right, after all. I really have been a fool, haven't I…" Her eyes began to mist over as she sniffed back a tear.

"There, there, Yuri-chan." Sumire consoled her partner with a pat on the shoulder. "It's okay not to win all the time. I'm sure even our 'golden girl' Elena misses out on the top sometimes. As long as you give your best effort, someone out there will love you for it."

"Thanks, Sumire. I may have beaten you this time, but I still think I could've done better. All the **** I've had to deal with lately's been weighing on my mind something awful."

"Mmh," Sumire grunted, "I believe you."

"Still, you've improved a lot yourself. You came pretty close to beating me this time, especially on the ribbon. If you keep working at it, I think you have a shot of pulling it off!" She smiled, while narrowing her eyes with determination. "However, I will not make this an easy feat for you to accomplish. Mark my words, Sumire Yoshizawa. When next we face each other on the mat, I shall have purged myself of my weaknesses, and will compete with the full power of my being!" Stretching out her hand for Sumire, Yuri declared, "Will you face my challenge?"

Sumire stared her down and confidently answered, "I accept your challenge, Yuri Hikawa!" The two former archenemies symbolically sealed their new, friendlier rivalry with a firm hand-clasp, and embraced each other with their free arms. Their gesture was rewarded with a round of applause, both by those present in the gym with them, and by the Phantom Thieves watching them from a thousand miles away. After having lots of fun posing for photographs and selfies - their highlight, after some minor stumbling, was holding the other's leg up in standing splits with one hand while forming a heart shape with the other - Sumire and Yuri finally signed off.

Night
Velvet Room

That night, a defeated but satisfied Sumire returned home and tucked herself into bed. Now that the stress of everything that happened in Sapporo was over with, Sumire found sleep to come to her much easier. She let romantic memories of Ren and friendly fantasies with Yuri lull her into a state of deep sleep, but when she awoke, she found herself in an unexpected, if not unfamiliar, setting. Sumire had once more been transported to the Velvet Room, presumably for some sort of debriefing with Lavenza. Lying on her hanging plank of a bed, she looked down at herself and, to her surprise, found herself wearing not her regular pajamas, nor the striped prisoner's garb from before, but the black leotard and longcoat of her Phantom Thief outfit. Lavenza stood in her cell's open doorway as always and, once she sensed Sumire was awake, greeted her. "Hello, Sumire Yoshizawa, O lady of the Faith. I have been waiting to speak with you."

"Oh! Lavenza-san!" Sumire said, taken by surprise. She was still confused after being spirited away to this place, especially given the unusual choice of clothes she had been given. "What's going on?"

"I simply summoned you to offer my sincere congratulations for your assistance of the Trickster in his quest," Lavenza answered with a curtsy.

Sumire blushed and giggled nervously. "Thanks… I'd do anything for Senpai!"

"While he and his allies must continue on their own, I have faith that they possess the fortitude and courage necessary to overcome the struggles they shall face. As do you, Lady Sumire. You have reaffirmed the bonds with those you already knew, and you have fostered brand new bonds, even with those who wronged you in the past."

"You mean Yuri-chan…"

"You have no regrets about her, do you?"

Sumire nodded and smiled confidently. "None at all, Lavenza. Once I got to understand her, I learned that her actions hurt herself as much as everyone else. And after everything that's happened, she needs my help and support now more than ever."

"Indeed. You are indeed a noble and magnanimous person, Lady Sumire. Given enough care, her potential may grow greater than anything I may imagine."

Confused, Sumire asked, "You mean… as a gymnast, right?"

Lavenza shook her head, cryptically replying, "I cannot say. However, perhaps more valuable than the bonds with others, you have managed to repair the frayed bonds with your own self. Your full potential shall once again be realized."

"Thank you, Lavenza-san. With Kasumi and Senpai guiding me, I won't let my spirit falter ever again!" With that sentence, she felt a resolve blazing in her heart like a wildfire, and heard a familiar voice speak within her mind.

I am thou, thou art I… My vow stands renewed in pursuit of the truth. In breaking free of doubt, the chain that impedes thee is thy strength of heart made manifest. Thou hast restored the potential of the Faith arcana, granting thee infinite power.

She looked around, but Cendrillon was nowhere to be seen. Instead, floating behind her was a different Persona, a long-legged woman in a short-skirted bridal dress, with a veil trailing from her lily-crowned head. "Ella!" Sumire cried joyously, recognizing her as Cendrillon's fully-evolved form. "You came back!"

I have never left you, young Sumire, Ella said telepathically. You simply lost sight of me when you lost sight of your goals and dreams. But now that you have rekindled the will to defy the fate imposed upon you, your rebirth from the cinders is guaranteed. The ball awaits, my child.

Ella extended her hand to Sumire. As she reciprocated her Persona's gesture and took her hand, for a briefest of instants, she felt the presence of her sister Kasumi before her, which caused her mind to flash back upon the time she had formed her true pact with Cendrillon. After Dr. Maruki's influence had caused her Persona to go berserk and attack her allies, she summoned the sister's spirit to imbue itself into Cendrillon to ensure that such a crisis of faith would never happen again, and as a promise that Sumire herself would fulfill the dreams they vowed together. In that way, Sumire realized, a part of Kasumi would live on in her forever. No amount of rumors or misunderstandings would distort her memories of her sister any longer. She vowed not only to make Kasumi proud, but to help Yuri Hikawa to do the same.

It was at this moment, after so many trials and tribulations between them, that she also recognized a faint echo of both herself and her sister present within Yuri Hikawa as well. When they were together, Yuri looked upon Kasumi as the same role model as she herself did as her younger sister. And now that the jealousy that had corrupted Yuri was finally purged, she saw her new friend and rival much in the way she used to regard Kasumi. Perhaps, she thought to herself, this will be an opportunity for a fresh start, not only between me and Yuri, but between me and Kasumi.

And this time, I won't ruin it for either of us.

THE END

Ladies, gentlemen, and others, I made it - we made it - to the end of another grand project. And this time, I didn't give up near the end and take a nearly year-long hiatus like last time! Of the many people, groups, and services which made this fanfiction possible, one of them certainly must have been the key which held everything together, so allow me to give my thanks to the lot.

First of all, I obviously have to thank all the staff at Atlus and Sega for creating Persona 5 in the first place. Both the original version and Persona 5 Royal are firmly entrenched among my favorite video games of all time. Of course, I have to give the edge to Royal if only for introducing the character of Kasumi and/or Sumire Yoshizawa, who turned out to be the gateway for my newfound obsession with rhythmic gymnastics. Thanks also for the other Persona spin-off games they've produced over the years, especially Persona 5 Strikers. I may have missed not having Sumi-chan around in that one, but it sure was a heck of a lot of fun to play.

Extra-special thanks, as always, go to Deathmanstratos and SupremeKnight3 for editing and support. As mentioned before, they collaborated on Stratos's own Persona 5 fanfiction, "Lotus, Violet, and Cherry Blossoms", which I not only regard as the greatest fanfic I have yet read, but also the biggest inspiration for me to write my own story. If Ms. Yoshizawa's mere existence opened the door to becoming such an RG aficionado, then their knowledgeable and emotional depictions of the sports are what booted me head-first into the stuff. In fact, after all the research I poured into my works, they even told me I'm a bigger expert than them at this point! I don't know if I'm ready to accept that superlative, but nonetheless, I am truly honored to have not only their assistance, but their friendship.

Over the course of that research, I've come to discover so many rhythmic gymnasts whose sterling performances make the sport as exciting as it is. I wish to thank them all, including but not limited to:

Teodora Alexandrova, Bulgaria
Linoy Ashram, Israel
Arina Averina, Russia
Dina Averina, Russia
Yulia Barsukova, Russia
Sophie Crane, Canada
Ivan Fernandez, Spain
Chaewoon Kim, South Korea
Sumire Kita, Japan
Gerard Lopez, Spain
Margarita Mamun, Russia
Lily Mizuno, USA
Chisaki Oiwa, Japan
Viktoriia Onopriienko, Ukraine
Ekaterina Selezneva, Russia
Elena Shinohara, USA
Aleksandra Soldatova, Russia
Yeon-jae Son, South Korea
Felipe Suso, Spain
Takana Tatsuzawa, Japan
Laura Zeng, USA

And, possibly the Greatest of All Time, Alina Kabaeva of Russia.

I would not have been able to witness these glorious gymnasts in the first place, however, if it were not for the following YouTube channels and other websites which archive these performances, or were otherwise very informative about the sport:

Alex RG
Clematis RGCideos
FIG Channel
Marc's Vaulting & Gymnastics Videos
Sophie Crane

Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG)
Her Releve
Japan R.G. Federation
Melody and Rhythmic Gymnastics
RG Music List

In order to help shape the world of my fanfic, I needed to prepare some sort of visual element for myself. To that end, I set out designing new costumes for its characters, both canon and original. Unfortunately, I became so engrossed with working on them that they were distracting me from other projects, in particular commissions and other pictures for , that I eventually had to put them on hold. Now that this story is finally done, I hope to finish them at a more reasonable pace. Until then, I would like to thank the following costume designers and storefronts for their stylish leotard designs I referenced:

Gymnastics Fantastic Leotards
Kikimora Fashion
Modlen
Nataly Zrazhevska
Svetlana Gerasimova

Finally, I want to thank you. Yes, you. I am truly grateful to everybody who reads this fanfiction, comments on it, and donates to the account where I host free downloadable copies of each chapter. Hopefully I was able to connect with each and every one of you to some degree through my work. In particular, it would be wonderful if reading this sparked a newfound fascination for rhythmic gymnastics, especially given its niche-interest status (at least, in my part of the world). But, I'm sure whatever else you may take away from them will be worthwhile in some form.

Until next time,

SpyHunter29

AN: I think I got out most of my author's notes in the acknowledgments and special-thanks above. In fact, the reason I made it its own section was because it wouldn't fit in the character limit Archive of Our Own imposes on ending notes. So for now, I guess I'll just point out some references. Yuri's ribbon routine from this chapter was inspired by Chisaki Oiwa's routines from the 2018 and 2019 Rhythmic World Championships. And, as you can probably guess from the past eight years of pop culture, Yuri's leotard for her ribbon routine is based on Elsa's ice dress from the first Frozen film, and the song is "Let It Go". I admit it's corny, but if Uzbekistan's RG team can perform a group routine with costumes and music based on Sailor Moon, it can't be that far-fetched, can it?

Characters from Persona 5 Royal and Persona 5 Strikers TM & (c)2016 2020 Atlus
Lyrics from "Let It Go" (c)2013 Walt Disney Music Company / Kobalt Music Publishing / K. Anderson-Lopez / R. Lopez
Text (c)2021 SpyHunter29