Cure Narrative 56: Needless Words

Season: Splash Star

Characters: Michiru K. Kaoru K.

Summary: The moon is beautiful, sister.

"What are you thinking, sister?"

Kaoru felt her sister's back leaning onto her own as her voice came in a dull murmur. One would presume Michiru was uninterested, but the twins knew everything about each other, they did not need their voices to convey emotions.

Or rather, they did not need emotions altogether.

"You know what I'm thinking, sister."

"Indeed I do. Quite uncalled-for, those thoughts of yours."

"And yours too, no?"

The nightly wind fiddled with her long blue hair, leaving a strand stuck at her lips. She moved it back to its place behind her ear, inwardly remarking how comfortable the breeze felt.

There was order in this world. And to the two of them, the order was Akudaaikan's ideals. He was their father, their god, their purpose, and they were excellently crafted marionettes tied to His fingers entrusted with the mission of establishing said 'order'.

Immense power had been bestowed upon them for this single purpose, as such, establishing 'order' should have been as effortless as tidying up a strand of stray hair.

And yet countless days had already passed. Carefree, confounding, eye-opening, humiliating days that were too long for conflicts yet too short for life.

Finally, time was up. Their predecessors had perished, it was their turn. They had crossed the point of no return already when they attacked the Precures at their little stargazing hangout a few hours ago. And they had been sitting here at Gourd Rock since, thinking.

Wrong. There was no need for thinking, nor doubting, nor reconsidering, nor waiting, nor choosing, nor wishing, nor anything but destroying. There was but one option — finish what the ones before them had started and failed at.

Then what? What would become of their empty lives after this fleeting period of warmth and light was eradicated with their own hands?

It did not matter. It was just the two of them in the beginning, and it sufficed. As long as they were together, like always, there was no...

"Kaoru."

"Hmm?" Kaoru hummed in reply, her thoughts interrupted by Michiru turning her head upwards, her hair lightly tickling Kaoru's neck.

"The moon... is beautiful," Michiru whispered, though not the slightest hint of amazement or adoration in her voice. "Do you know what that means in the Land of Greenery?"

"No."

"I read that it means 'I love you'."

"Oh. So?"

"...Nothing. I just wanted to say that."

"To whom?"

Michiru paused, Kaoru felt her head shift again before she replied, "...I don't know."

Kaoru thought she understood everything about her sister.

She was wrong.

"The moon is beautiful indeed."

They wished to believe.

More than anything, they wished to believe all those words of hope and future and promises would become reality as they return to the Land of Greenery. They wished to live and to experience all that life had to offer.

They wished to believe their fates could be changed.

Alas, they were certain that all of them managing to escape from Him with all their futures and lives intact was utterly inconceivable.

Her entire body stung, as if she had been scorched all over, but Kaoru raised her head to glance at her sister.

They did not need their voices to convey thoughts.

Through all the doubts and fear and regrets, a single sentiment arose victorious, towering over all else as the drive for them to rise to their feet.

Resolve.

Hand in hand, they expended the entirety of their power, erecting a golden shield, for a little time to bid their friends farewell and to grant them the Miracle Drops.

Perhaps their fates had changed indeed, however slightly. They shall wither here, and become the strength of someone else who had always been there for them. They could not ask for a better finale.

They sent the Cures back to the Land of Greenery. At the same time, Michiru felt the grip on her hand tighten.

'I wanted to live, with them.'

She returned the gesture.

'Don't get ahead of yourself, Kaoru. It was just the two of us in the beginning...'

'And it sufficed.'

As long as they were together, like always, there was no better wish to be fulfilled.

End of Chapter 56

A/N: I just want to say that " and ' are different things in case you didn't notice 🙈