She Who Declines
Cast: Cure Heart, Aida Mana - age 14
Cure Diamond, Hishikawa Rikka - age 14
Cure Rosetta, Yotsuba Alice - age 14
February, 2013
"It's because I distrust them," Alice explains as she has tea with Mana and Rikka. "If that Fusion Group truly wants to help young ladies by granting them money, there should be no reason whatsoever for them to select me."
"I understand where you're coming from," Rikka says, "but they honestly haven't asked anything in return."
Mana nods. "If they wanted something from us, wouldn't they at least tell us what?"
Alice shakes her head. "That's not how these sorts of things work at all. When a company makes a large gift to a political cause, they don't say anything about what they want. That would be treated as a bribe. Instead, they carefully watch for people whose words and actions already match the company's intent, and selectively finance only those. It is not uncommon for other politicians to take note of especially large contributions, and to alter their own behavior in hopes of a similar windfall."
"But we're good people," Mana says. "Doesn't that mean they want to us to keep being good?"
Rikka takes a sip of her tea. "I think we should be more concerned about the idea that they may be watching us."
"I must admit, that concerns me as well," Alice says with a serious expression. "My agents, who are watching over us, haven't found any signs of other surveillance. Even so, for all I know, all of us may be constantly being watched."
Mana grins. "We're so lucky to have you watching out for us."
Rikka sets her teacup down. "By the way, Alice... When you say you have people watching over us, were you including Makoto and Aguri?"
"I was including everyone, actually."
Alice takes another sip of her tea.