The Dark Wedding
Cast:
Dark PreCure, Tsukikage Sumire - age 24
Joker, Tsukikage Jou - age 25
Cure Moonlight, Tsukikage Yuri - age 25
Cure Blossom, Hanasaki Tsubomi - age 22
Ban Kenji - Tsubomi's boyfriend - age 22
Cure Marine, Kurumi Erika - age 21
Cure Happy, Hoshizora Miyuki - age 19
Cure Peace, Kise Yayoi - age 20
Cure Lovely, Aino Megumi - age 17
Wolfrun, Ookami Runtarou - age 19
Aka-Oni, Akai Onikichi - age 19
Hanasaki Mika - Tsubomi's sister - age 5
Misumi Minori - Cure Bloom's sister / Cure Black's sister-in-law - age 21
Misumi Tomoe - Cure Black's sister - age 11
Sagara Seiji - age 17
Hakamori Tetsuya - age 26
September, 2017
By tradition, the groom does not see the bride on the day of the wedding, until the actual event. The reason for this is... the reasons do not matter. Traditions are what they are, and people either respect them or they don't. Joker has not yet seen his wife-to-be in her wedding dress, but he knows it to be a complex and difficult creation of the infamous Cobraja Fashion Designs. If anything, the morning hours that have been scheduled for Sumire to get dressed may not be enough.
By contrast, the groom and the best man at least have a few moments to relax. Although they, too, are dressed in Dark-type outfits, the world of men's fashion could almost be said to begin and end with the tuxedo.
"Nervous?"
Joker is not a short man, but he still has to look up to meet the other man's gaze. With his wild blond hair and powerful build, Hakamori Tetsuya nonetheless wears a perfectly fitted tuxedo. The impression is of an upper-class businessman for whom physical might is only a hobby. As Joker understands it, that is something close to the truth.
Joker chuckles. "It seems that after all, I am only a man with a human heart. Disappointed?"
Tetsuya snorts. "It only means that you have no future in business, Jou. I knew that already."
At the appointed time, the organ begins to play. It is a wedding march, and a triumphant one, though interspersed with occasional dark notes.
The first bridesmaid to enter is Cure Happy. Though not a Dark-type herself, her Second Year Syndrome continues to afflict her into adulthood, resulting among other things, in semi-frequent gigs performing in Joker's hero shows against or alongside the popular Hero Light Red. Her bridesmaid dress is a princess-like pink gown with black trim, black boots, and a bat-winged tiara. Not a Dark-type herself, she nonetheless evokes the image of a princess who sleeps soundly even in a demon king's castle. She is escorted by Ookami Runtarou, her fiance, who has been the groom's friend and sometimes his flunky for several years. Runtarou's costume consists of a black tux, a black cape lined on the inside with pink, and a mask with a lupine aspect. When they reach the stage, they separate, walk to opposite sides, then wait while the ceremony proceeds.
The next pair to enter in the procession are Yayoi and her escort, Onikichi. Their connection also stretches back several years, but in their case, they actually have never been together as a couple. In his case, he has dated other girls, but Yayoi has been mainly preoccupied with her work. In her currently running serial, one of the recurring villains is based on the groom, and the bride is an avid reader. Yayoi wears a black gown with a witch's hat, both decorated with yellow ribbons, and carries a long staff topped with a yellow orb. Onikichi wears a tuxedo with skull-shaped cuff-links and a han'nya mask. When they reach the stage, he takes a moment to flex, then they also walk to opposite sides of the stage.
The pair who follow are connected with both the bride and the groom, as dabblers both in Dark-type fashion and Joker's entertainment productions. Cure Lovely appears in a long black gown with crimson trim, with thigh high boots and opera gloves. Alongside her, Sagara Seiji is wearing tuxedo like the other escorts, though his outfit also includes a dark red cape and a domino mask. As the others had before them, they walk to opposite sides of the stage.
The maid of honor is Cure Moonlight. At first glance, her outfit seems to contradict the theme. A silver gown with lavender frills, silver boots, and a single violet opera glove. She is wearing a white rose in her hair, and a single prosthetic wing with snowy white feathers is attached behind her back. However, she is also wearing color contacts, as Sumire is wont to do: One turquoise and one yellow. Next to her, the best man is not so much her escort as he happens to be walking in the same direction at the same time.
Once Yuri and Tetsuya reach the stage, they also split to either side, flanking the positions that will be filled by the bride and groom will stand. The music changes, the organ fading out for several moments as the lights dim. Colored spotlights sweep across the crowd, then converge at the door where the groom has appeared.
Unlike the other gentlemen, Joker's tuxedo is white. A white mask covers the upper half of his face and a harlequin cap atop his head. His grin looks somehow sinister, but to those who know him... this is his natural smile. That he has come dressed as a monster clown to his own wedding is actually not a surprise to anyone. No, the actual surprise is that the red, yellow, blue, and black balls attached to his cap are detachable. He pulls them off one at a time and juggles them as he walks up to and then ascends the stage. It is only when he reaches the alter that he drops the act and hands the colored balls off to the best man.
The bride is preceded by one last participant, a pink-haired little girl in a frilly black dress. The violet petals that drop to the floor as she passes have a meaning in the language of flowers... which does not matter. They are Sumire's favorites. The girl is also a favorite of hers: Mika, the youngest of the Hanasaki sisters.
Now the bride appears. Sumire, in her wedding dress, an opposite and embellished form of the outfit worn by her sister. Color contacts: one yellow and one turquoise, swapped right for left compared to Yuri's. A large prosthetic wing, hanging from her back but folded in the opposite direction, constructed not with angelic feathers but with what seems to be blackened leather. Sumire wears a red rose in her hair, black boots, a single black opera glove on the opposite hand, and a long black dress with voluminous petticoats and a crimson train.
She stops after reaching the stage. "Karasawa Jou! Your heart's flower: It is mine to possess!"
He answers her challenge. "It is yours to possess, Sumire! Without you, it will wither!"
The rest of the ceremony proceeds relatively normally.
As is fitting for a wedding, there is a large cake. Jou and Sumire do their part in making the first cuts and eating the first slices, after which cake is distributed to the rest of the wedding party and to the guests. The ritual of the bouquet is performed, which finds the treasure landing in the hands of Cure Marine. As the festivities go on, various scenes are captured.
Hanasaki Tsubomi is on good terms with bride, but she is honestly closer to Sumire's two greatest rivals. Perhaps that is why she was not chosen a bridesmaid... but then, there can only be so many. If she is bothered by it at all, she is doing a wonderful job of concealing it, spending much of her time closely attached to Kenji's arm, outside of the particular moment when she is feeding him a piece of cake.
At that moment, the flash of a camera.
"Minori?" Indeed, the woman with the camera is Misumi Minori.
"We can explain!" Kenji says, trying to think of something -anything- to keep that photo from getting out.
"Sorry, you two! Erika put a bounty on you, and I intend to collect. Try to deny that you're dating now!"
"I- We..." Tsubomi visibly wilts as she fails to come up with something. "Alright, we're dating. It hasn't been going on for nearly as long as everybody has been teasing us about it!"
"At least you admitted it," Minori says with a grin. "Now... where did that assistant of mine go?"
For all that she was an active participant in a Dark-type wedding, Yayoi's appearance and bearing were always closer to "cute witch" than "actual villain." As she cuts into her slice of cake with a fork, she somehow looks far more innocent than a grown woman ought to. Not that she has a child-like physique. Indeed not. Even so, her mien is suffused with simple joy.
Furthermore, Tomoe knows that she has sinned. Approaching the cute witch from behind, Tomoe slips into Yayoi's personal space and thrusts an open manga into her face.
"Sensei, what is the meaning of this?"
Yayoi's eyes widen. "You've been reading my Hyper Robo Peacemalion?! I'm so happy to hear that, Tomoe!"
"No! I mean this scene!" She flips through the book and points. "And this scene! And this one! I gave you those suggestions so you could pursue your own love, not so you could tell an imaginary story!"
"Even if you say that..." Yayoi trails off, failing to make eye contact.
"Explain yourself!"
Tomoe begins to press forward, but suddenly finds herself rising into the air. Onikichi is behind her, and has lifted Tomoe up by her armpits.
"What are you, her white knight? Put me down!" Tomoe struggles to no avail.
"It's Aka-Oni, not White Knight. What you are doing is very rude."