Author's Note

I was quite excited about writing this chapter. I ended up finishing this quite early. There are technically three options for the chapter titles. It was hard to choose. Either way, I haven't seen many comments lately. Whoever reads this, let me know what you think. It'll definitely help to keep me motivated to write.

Chapter 44: Cure Shining Diva, Wings and Confession!

As Rainbow is about to jump in, Hummy hops onto the stage. She is out of breath and is getting everyone's attention.

Hummy "Hmm? Why is everyone looking at me-nya?"

Ruen "A talking cat? Ah, is that the so called fairy? How weird."

Hummy "Who are you calling weird-nya!"

Melody then stands in front of Hummy "Hummy, stand back. They are really strong."

Hummy then grabs one sphere she received from Gyaku and shows it to everyone.

Hummy "Don't worry, I got something that can help us. But I was told this can be dangerous."

Everyone except Rainbow recognizes the familiar sphere.

Ruen "That item! Did you steal it from our lab? You thieving cat!"

Hummy retorts "Hummy is a cat but not a thief-nya!"

Ruen smirks "No matter, I can use that to power up the seed."

Before anyone makes a move, Diva picks up the sphere from Hummy's hand.

Diva "This is that power up sphere. Maybe I can get more power if I use this too."

Center "Don't be reckless. Rainbow is strong, but…"

Before Center finishes, Rock stops her by cutting in "Will you be alright?"

Diva looks at the two of them. Then at everyone for a moment.

Ruen smirks "Go ahead and try. That thing is not much different from the seed. I would love to see Cure Shine."

Diva jots a bit and Cure Perfect says "Diva isn't that weak to fall again."

Melody "That's right, Diva is will be fine. Afterall…"

Melody looks back at Diva and Rock says "Yeah, once Diva decides on something, she always follows through and succeeds."

Center closes her eyes and thinks back between their match "That's right, she wanted to win but still lost. However, she eventually still managed to defeat me on the stage."

Diva looks at everyone once more and says as she uses the sphere "Thanks!"

Within Diva, she is floating with darkness around her. She looks around and checks on herself, Yume is not in her Cure Diva form.

Yume "This is… Where am I?"

Before Yume can take time to look around, a memory bubble shows up in front of her. From within, she can see the moment where different idols suffer from their loss when competing. Most of it is from this large venue they are in.

Yume "All these idols… Eh? That's…"

As Yume keeps watching, she sees Rola crying in her waiting room. It was during the time when Rola lost to Elza along with all her chances to compete in Aikatsu Ranking's top four spots.

Yume "Rola, as I thought, you kept it a secret."

Then as if it is trying to make Yume feel guilty, it starts projecting everything she did while she is with ABC and as Cure Shine.

Yume "Ahahaha… I really did a lot of bad stuff. However…"

Yume then looks forward and starts walking forward. She starts walking through one image after another. With each passing, a small part of her body is clad in a silvery pink light. After a while, nearly all of her body is covered except her head. She stops moving as she sees herself as Cure Shine.

Yume "You are…"

Cure Shine "You."

Yume stays silent while Cure Shine continues "Did you think you can run away?"

Yume is caught off guard by the question. She then closes her eyes and thinks for a moment.

Yume opens her eyes as she speaks "You are right, you are also me. I shouldn't run away. However…"

Cure Shine "However?"

Yume smiles "I won't destroy any more dreams."

Cure Shine "That'll only make it harder to stay as the true first star."

Yume then genuinely smiles with a carefree image "That's fine, it'll just train harder and defeat them on stage!"

Cure Shine "So you'll shine like there is no tomorrow. You'll burn yourself out if you do that."

Yume answers with confidence "I won't. I'll always be singing, always be dancing, always be performing!"

Cure Shine "How are you so confident?"

Yume "You should know the answer, right?"

Cure Shine smile with a sigh "Right…"

Then the two of them answer together "That's because I absolutely love idols!"

Then her surround soon becomes blinding bright and Yume's conscious returns.

When Yume returns, she is still in her Cure Diva form. However, all her friends look beat up. But they are not the only ones injured. Rainbow has a few minor injuries, though nowhere being severe.

Center "Diva, you are back."

Diva looks around and nods "I'm back, and…"

Diva raises her fist in front of her and opens her hand. It reveals a diamond-shaped golden start badge like object. The style is a bit similar to the grade up glitter.

Hummy "What is that?"

Diva thinks for a bit "It looks like the grade up glitter. Let's call it the Star Glitter."

Ruen "Star Glitter? What in the world is that?"

Diva smiles "Then I'll show you! Let me shine to the brightest, Star Glitter!"

Diva sets the Star Glitter near the bottom of her Live Module. The Live Module then shines brightly before it separates into 6 pieces. Two of them touch Diva's arm and Diva's arm is now covered in half-transparent rainbow-colored feathery open hand gloves. Then two more touch her foot and now has a pair of glove boots with high heels. However, the design of the boots has a large rainbow feather with the boots composed of mostly white with pink trim. Then one of them touches her body and as if the dress grows wings, the back of the dress now has four wide strips of fabric, making the back of her skirt look longer. Two of them being larger while the other two are on top of it. Then the last piece goes onto Diva's head and gives her a tiara with a rainbow veil that covers half of her hair.

When the pieces finish transforming Diva, she says "Precure, Grade up! Shining Diva!"

Rainbow "Shining Diva…"

Ruen "This is unexpected. No matter. Rainbow, let's take her out first!"

Rainbow "Yes!"

Rainbow split into seven and dashes in as Ruen begins singing again. As Rainbow closes in, Shining Diva readies herself and the four pieces of cloths behind her begins he emit faint light. At the last moment, she jumps up and begins to take flight. She circles around while drawing her rainbow sword. As she comes back, she attacks the red and green Rainbow. The attack scratches them as they avoid.

Afterward, she flies up and thinks "This power, I can do this. But first…"

She looks at Ruen and flies towards him. Green Rainbow steps in front of Ruen quickly and deploys a shield. It stops her sword and forces Shining Diva to backs away. However, she continues her attack.

Shining Diva "Precure, Shining Star Spike!"

Similar to her old Star Dream Spike, she hits her energy ball and sent it flying. Green Rainbow attempts to block again. As it clashes against the shield, Shining Diva closes in once again. All the other Rainbow jumps up, trying to land a hit. However, having the ability to fly, she avoids them by speeding up, slowing down, and sometimes makes a small swirl. The ball causes a crack on the shield and with the rainbow sword on top of it, she breaks through the green rainbow's shield.

Shining Diva quickly steps in front of Ruen "Precure, Shining Strike!"

Shining Diva gathers a lot of power into her sword and makes a wide cleave. Ruen blocks it with his arm, but the attack sends him tumbling away. Due to Ruen stops singing, Rainbow could not maintain her seven bodies and returns being one.

Cure Melody "She returns into one?"

Cure Perfect "Ruen's song must have been the source of power that allows her to do that."

Rainbow "You, that way of fighting…"

Shining Diva "Yes, I have come to understand that Cure Shine, that part of me is also real. After all, I really want to stand on the very top as the number one idol. Because of everything, I want to confess everything I have bottled up."

Shining Diva then flys up again "With these wings, I'll confess."

Then the music starts playing, coming from Shining Diva. At the same time, Rainbow leaps up and attempts to attack.

She fends off Rainbow as she begins to sing "Wings and Confessions, my heart is aching. I'll be honest with myself…"

Shining Diva dives in and swings at Rainbow. However, Rainbow materializes her own sword and they enter a sword lock.

Shining Diva continues to sing "The gray secret, it's all in the words. I'm not as good as you think I am."

Rainbow backs off as Shining Diva continues her song "When you deny it, it makes me want to cry."

Rainbow looks surprised from the lyrics and the song continues "I just don't show it, the struggles."

As she keeps singing, Rainbow stops moving and her sword disappears. Shining Diva also does the and as she puts one hand on her chest.

She sings "In my heart, I'm falling. Then this impulse, it's like a temptation."

Shining Diva then jumps forward and lands in front of Rainbow "Longing will soon be over. Fly away from the darkness. I know what I am now. The wings of confession, my heartaches. From now on, I will be honest to myself."

As Rainbow keeps listening to Shining Diva singing to her, she starts to feel her own heart aching. While she is not Yurina, it's as if the body knows what is happening and Yurina is resisting.

Ruen finally stands up and notices the situation has turned around. Every other Cure is watching Ruen and Rainbow carefully. Ready to intercept if anything goes wrong.

Ruen speaks to Rainbow with telepathy "Hide, for now, we lost this one."

Rainbow then closes her eyes and continues listening to the song. A few more seconds later, Rainbow's transformation is undone and Yurina returns.

Ruen mutters quietly "Did it retreat safely? Damn, this is quite unexpected. Never thought there is a day where I had to run."

Ruen then teleports away as the song slowly comes to an end. At the same time, Yurina slowly falls down and Shining Diva catches her.

With danger out of the way, Muse asks "Is she okay?"

Shining Diva nods "Yes, I think she is just unconscious."

Melody "What is with the sour face?"

Rhythm "Melody…"

Rock "I can guess what's up."

Center "Is it because she is similar?"

Shining Diva "As expected, you two know what I am thinking."

Beat "Sorry but what do you two mean?"

After Perfect thinks for a bit and then snaps her fingers "Ah, is it how much she struggles and how fast she is growing as an idol?"

Melody "Oh, I see. Wait, did Diva struggle like Yurina?"

Rhythm "It's the other way around! Also, you should know this, you are in her class!"

Melody "But we never learned that in class."

Center then comments "That's unexpected. To think there is an idol that is so uninterested in other idols."

Rock "Either way, we should leave. The audience will wake up soon."

Beat "That's true but the stage… we can't just leave it empty."

Shining Diva then undoes her transformation "It's okay, I got it."

Everyone looks at Yume and nods. Melody grab holds of Yurina and they return to the VIP room.

When the audience begins to wake up, a spotlight shines on Yume.

Yume "Everyone, it seems like there was a problem with Ruen and the performance. The issue has been fixed but unfortunately, Ruen had left."

The crowd is confused why Yume is on the stage, but the fact Ruen just left causes them to feel cheated. They are there and expecting a great performance, however, no one seems to remember much about Ruen's stage.

Yume then reaches one arm out "But don't worry, in exchange, I will perform for everyone!"

While Yume is speaking to the audience, Hibiki and everyone else is watching.

Rola "Yume, you really are a daredevil sometimes."

Hibiki then asks "Hmm? Why?"

Elza answers "This is not exactly covering for someone. Yume basically stole the stage from Ruen."

Ellen "Yeah, what's worst is she is doing it directly to the audience while the staff probably has no idea about it either."

Hibiki "Ah…"

However, despite what they said, the audience doesn't mind. Yume then runs off stage, preparing for her performance. However, she first meets up with the staff first.

Yume apologizes with a bow "Sorry since Ruen disappeared, I thought I have to do something. I just don't want to see the audience left unsatisfied."

Staffs don't know what to say when Yume apologizes like that.

Then one staff steps forward "Alright, let's put it aside for now. What song will you be using?"

Yume answers "Wings and Confession!"

The Staffs freeze up and blink a few times.

One of them then says "A new song in this situation… Haha, this will definitely go down in history."

Another staff then says "But this just makes it even more interesting. Screw what happens later, let's make sure it turns out well."

Every staff agrees and shouts "Yeah!"

Yume is in the changing room and holding a new dress. It is the same one as when she becomes Shining Diva, named Colorful Dream Coord.

Yume "This dress and my new song. I can do this, this is also a whole new start line for me!"

Yume then looks forward and says "Nijino Yume, I will shine brighter than the first star!"

Yume then changes into her dress and starts her stage. However, when she uses her special appeal, it is different. She jumps into darkness and with a wave of a hand, a rainbow is formed. She then does it a few more times and the surrounding also brightens up. After forming four rainbows, she strikes a pose.

Yume's Swift Appeal follows up with each rainbow moves around and covers up Yume. It then forms a Lotus and as it opens, she slowly rises with her dress obtaining a lotus petal pattern but various colors from the rainbow. Then with a sudden movement, the lotus opens up entirely and a bunch of petals flutters around Yume. Afterward, Yume sings the final verse and ends her performance.