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Dissonance

Event XXIII

Normalcy Rebound

Yawning as she slowly opened her eyes, Love started to feel around in bed, looking for something. "Setsuna? Ellen?" A little confused and tired out, her whole body thoroughly resisted waking up, trying to force her back to sleep. "Ah... they're on the other team." Losing all her motivation to get up in the first place, Love turned over.

The room was completely silent beyond her own breathing and the bed felt awfully large and empty. "How long it's been since I woke up without Setsuna..." Even while they had traveled and worked to different times, they had always made time to see each other and come to bed when they could. "Don't feel like getting up..." Setsuna would scold her for lazy behavior like that but considering what she had gone through the day before, she felt very justified in staying under the bed cover.

The silence was becoming awkward quite fast. Turning over every couple minutes, she couldn't find any peace. "If at least one of them was here..." Love didn't feel lonely very easily but she did long for her partners that morning. Laying flat on her stomach, she started to think about what Setsuna and Ellen were doing. They were probably too overly faithful to have fun all alone. Giggling at the thought of both of them feeling bad, she heard someone sneeze in the room to the left.

Did someone catch a cold? Yawning again and pulling the cover over her head, Love tried to go back to sleep and ignore the nagging feeling that she wouldn't find a moments rest like this. Thinking about what she would do without her partners, she did remember that both Bukki and Miki were on her side, reminding her of when she was just a teenager, doing Cure things for the first time.

"I can't believe that it's already been four years since then... " Smiling awkwardly, Love felt a bit stupid, talking to herself. It did give her the illusion that she wasn't alone though. Another sneeze, a very cute one. "Maybe I can ask Ellen's teammates about her a bit. I wonder what kind of food she likes." Not that she could cook a great many things, not unless varieties of hamburger counted.

A series of sneezes. It was starting to bug her. Holding on to the sheets, slowly crawling out of bed, giving a great impression of a ghost, Love knocked on the wall. If she could hear sneezes, it shouldn't be hard to hear knocking. "You alright?" She didn't really know who was in there. Trying to recall which emblem was on the wall, she couldn't remember a thing.

The knocking was returned and it was only a very quiet thud, barely audible. In a way, that put Love at ease. It would be quite embarrassing if Setsuna or Ellen started to get loud and someone was forced to listen in. Standing at the wall, she yawned again and closed her eyes for a split second. She was going back to sleep after all. Turning and crawling back into bed, the sheets covering all of her body including her head, Love slowly returned to the land of dreams.

The room next to hers, the one where no sneezing had come from, had a very cranky girl waking up. It had been less than a month since she had started sleeping in the same room as Itsuki and yet she was already waking up with a foul mood when she wasn't around. "Stupid system... Why'd it split me from Itsuki." That absolutely nobody else from her team was on this side was making things even worse. "Not like I'd talk to Kanade anyway." Pouting, Hibiki got angry with herself for even bringing it up. Itsuki had already told her she needed to stop being stubborn and holding on to grudges. That wasn't how mature people dealt with their issues. She knew that but it wasn't that easy to go against your own personality.

"Thinking about her only makes me even more annoyed!" Taking her pillow and using it to cover her face, Hibiki already dreaded having to spend the entire day without Itsuki. "I don't need to say anything about Kanade... I'm acting almost like her..." Noticing how attached she had gotten to Itsuki, Hibiki was a little startled. "Oh man... I guess this is what it means to be heels over head in love."

Quite conscious of how hard she had fallen for Itsuki, there were some things she wasn't happy with. For one, they lived quite far apart. Japan wasn't a small country by any stretch of the imagination and even though public transportation was affordable, she didn't even want to think about a long distance relationship.

"But can I really just up and go move in with Itsuki? Ah... I wish I could talk to her about this right now." Despite her usually carefree attitude, Hibiki did keep those things in mind and they weighted down on her mood, especially now that her flame wasn't with her.

And she wasn't the only one who was having those troubles. Urara was enjoying the comfortable bed of the luxurious room she had scored. Or she would have if not for being extremely bored. Luminous, on the other side of the room, was still sound asleep and she felt so lethargic that she couldn't even get herself to prank her a little. Just thinking about it made clear that the thrill would feel empty without Ako's nagging glare on her back.

Laying on her back, both hands behind her head, the yellow Cure was quite amazed. Years ago, before she had realized how evil and merciless the world really was, she had never thought she'd have trouble finding someone she would truly like. And after her make-over, she had expected the complete opposite. "So, what the hell do I do? It's fine while we're in here, but when we get out, she'll have to live as what, fourteen year old? No way I'm getting away with that. Forget Hello Work, it'll be Hello Prison for me."

"If she's that young I'm gonna have to deal with her parents, too. Oh great, I can already hear them complaining and nagging about me. 'She's working as what? And she's how old?' All that stupid blah blah. Makes me want to just grab, tag, bag her and get out."

"What am I saying?" Turning over and exhaling deeply, Urara put two fingers to head forehead. "If I do that, Ako is gonna fry my ass. Maybe it's been a little too long since I had someone I care about." Slowly getting up, she was tired of laying in bed. "Luminous, you awake?"

Getting no answer, Urara got out of bed and peeked around the screen that separated their personal spaces. "Yo..." The girl was not even there. "I can't into those types that get up this early." For a moment, she was thankful that Ako was punctual but not notoriously so.

Leaving her room, the door automatically locking and her emblem, two crossed chains behind a butterfly, starting to glow, she ran into someone. "Knocking helps." Seeing Berry stand in front of the door to the other third floor room, Urara couldn't help herself but comment. "You know, that thing you do when you want someone inside a room to know you're there, outside their room."

Miki wasn't going to play any stupid games with the blonde. "Morning to you too, Lemonade."

"Want me to knock for you? Are you one of those usually confident but then shy when it counts types?" Urara was intuitively expecting a slap to the back of her head yet nothing happened. "Ah right... Ako isn't here. Shit."

"No thanks." Miki only now took a look at Urara and had to try hard to not laugh. "And you might want to fix that hair of yours." Watching the blonde make a grimace and return to her room, Miki finally overcame her nervousness. That wasn't like her at all. Knocking twice and waiting for a few seconds, Egret opened the door. "Is Yuri still asleep?"

"She's," Turning around and checking, "already out." Mai realized she had not even noticed that before now. "Probably to take a shower. Want me to tell her you are looking for her?"

Thinking for a second, Miki shook her head. "No, I'll find her myself. Thanks." Turning away, Miki left the white Cure to her own devices. Thinking that it was unlikely to find her in the garden this early, Miki listened in on whether the showers on the opposite side of the floor were being used. No dice.

Going down the stairs, Mint and Dream were both walking towards her, seemingly headed for the top level. "Morning." Miki was a little weirded out by how casually they responded with the same greeting. As if they were already completely used to living in this place. Sharing a room with Bukki and Blossom wasn't bad but the room quality left a lot to be desired.

Hearing the two girls chatting all the way down to the second floor, she noticed White just leaving her room, big black rings under her eyes. "Slept badly?" Waiting for her to come close to respond, Miki caught a glimpse of Inori coming down the stairs behind her and turned around to greet her as well. "Morning, Bukki."

Not surprised to see her friend already up, Inori returned the greeting. "Morning. Are you fine, walking around?"

"I feel like I could eat a bear whole but other than that I'm fine." She obviously couldn't eat a bear whole, given all the excess calories would make her gain weight. Turning to the side, Inori walking two steps to stand next to her, Miki turned back to the white Cure that had made it over to where they stood. "You look terrible, Honoka."

"Thanks." Rubbing her forehead, Honoka sighed. "Feel like it, too." Looking at Pine and then back to Miki she looked even more tired than before. "Inori, do you feel like covering me on negotiations? I always take a day or two to adjust to sleeping in a new bed and," Looking over her shoulder, Honoka sighed again. "I always end up losing sleep like that."

"If you do not mind,"Appearing like a ghost, Reika had approached the group from behind, the sleepy Honoka startled upon finally noticing her. "I could take care of negotiations."

"Please do." Feeling slightly unwell, Honoka decided that Beauty was more than capable to get some favorable terms for the team. "Coffee..."

Miki grinned and pointed towards the back, a sign that she was going to go too. "The elixir of life. I need one as well."

"Have any if you seen Love?" Inori wasn't a fan of coffee early in the morning although it was sometimes necessary for work.

"I think she might still be in the dinner hall." Reika remembered that Love was the real name of Peach and she had seen her earlier.

Turning to Reika, Inori smiled. "Alright, thanks. Miki, Honoka, let's go." Part of their conversation from the day before was still hanging in the air and she wanted to finish that. Watching Reika walk away, and greet a very cranky looking Melody on her way, Inori felt like she would get along with the new blue Cure.

"I heard you were coming out of the shower with Windy yesterday. Scouting a girlfriend, Bukki?" Miki wasn't exactly one to talk, with her going after Yuri and everything.

Grinning and slowly walking past her friend, Inori raised her index finger to her lips. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

Her mouth slightly open, Miki was surprised to see Bukki keep a secret from her. "But Windy of all people?"

"Don't badmouth her, Miki." Inori's expression was unchanged, still grinning and slowly walking, the other two following her.

Shaking her head, Miki smiled. "I'm not. So what's your relationship with her?"

"Hm...," Pretending to really need to think about it, Inori quickly turned around and faced Miki. "I'd say we're friends."

"Is this the same friends Love was with Setsuna?"

"No way." Inori almost started to laugh, just thinking about her trying to imitate Love. "You know I'm not like that. Nor are you, for the record."

"Yeah, you're right."

"You two..." Honoka was not quite friendly when she was sleep deprived, without Nagisa and still without coffee, too. "Can we get to the coffee room already?"

"Yeah, yeah." Miki was slightly amused, seeing the usually so composed Honoka like that.

The group stopped for a moment when someone else came up the stairs, letting them through. It were Happy and Blossom. Taking the opportunity, Miki held them up. "Blossom, have you seen Yuri?"

"She's having breakfast. She hasn't eaten in days, so she's really hungry." Tsubomi had been in the middle of a conversation with Miyuki. "I can't believe something like that happened."

"It did, it did. So when I got turned into a big robot, everyone tried to control me from the cockpit but only Reika really managed to do it." Miyuki liked to tell stories about the more silly experiences she had when dealing with the bad end kingdom.

"A.. giant robot?" Miki wasn't sure she heard right but she was a little worried that Happy might never stop talking if she asked. Getting shoved lightly by Honoka, Miki resumed walking. "Okay, okay, we'll get you your coffee. You're like a totally different person without Black around."

"What do you expect..." Yawning, Honoka let her head slightly hang. "I've been with Nagisa for half a decade, often day and night." Yawning again, Honoka lowered her voice slightly. "I need her."

Both Miki and Inori blushed after hearing that. "Is... is that so?" Miki couldn't find any other words.

The instant they reached the bottom of the stairs, someone flew around the corner and crashed into Inori, both going down to the ground. "Ah, I'm sorry! I was in a hurry 'n didn't check where I was goin'." They recognized the accent right away. "I'm real sorry!" Getting up and extending her hand to Inori, Akane felt pretty silly.

"Don't worry about it." Taking Sunny's hand, Inori got back up and got immediately pushed ahead by Honoka, who went on towards the kitchen on her own. "Why were you in such a hurry?"

Turning her head away, Akane laughed awkwardly. "I.. err.. no... no particular reason." Looking behind her, she quickly ran past them. "I'll have to go now. See ya later."

"Sunny! Come back and clean up your mess!" A petite shout from down the hallway caused Akane to dash up the stairs. A flushed and slightly angry Luminous showed up and followed the red Cure just a few seconds later.

"Seems like things are really back to normal now." Miki smiled a little, hoping that she would finally get to have a nice, long talk with Yuri.

"A little to normal maybe." Inori watched Luminous vanish around the corner in the middle of the stairs. "But I really don't mind."

=== Dissonance ===

"No."

"Why!?"

"No means no."

"But...!"

"Absolutely not."

"Stingy!"

"I'm not letting you do it."

Watching two blue Cures argue in the garden, one of them already a good friend of hers, Yayoi stood silently a few meters away. Erika was scurrying around Aqua, trying to get permission to hold the negotiations in her place. Aqua had already been chosen as indicated by the plates and Erika wanted to go in her stead.

"Just this once will be fine, yeah?"

"No."

"Please!"

"No."

"Why are you so hardhearted!?"

"Now look..." Sighing hard, Karen closed the novel she had been reading. "You and Peace exploded a hallway just yesterday. What exactly makes you think something like that would tell me you're suited to handle negotiations for the next fight."

"That's that and this is this." Erika saw no problem whatsoever. "So, come on, let me- ouch ouch ouch!" Getting dragged away by her ear, Erika had run out of time. "Tsubomi... you look scary..." Those words being met with a glare that told her to be quiet, Erika looked to her new friend. "Yayoi, help!" Wildly flailing with her arms, Erika tried to get away from her lover, with no success whatsoever.

Yayoi looked at Aqua and was immediately shot down. "You're in the same boat as her. I will hold negotiations and that is the end of that story." Closing her book and getting up, Karen noticed that March and Passion were walking down the path next to the pond.

"I never thought I'd meet someone else that was... well," Scratching her cheek, Nao tried to find the right words, "in a relationship like me." Not quite satisfied with that way of saying it, Nao tried to think of something better. "Someone dating multiple people? No... that sounds really wrong..." She did tend to sometimes think out loud.

"We've only recently gotten together like that. I met Ellen when we were first on a team together and I was really worried that Love would be mad at me." Setsuna had, by sheer coincidence, ended up heading to the garden after breakfast at the same time as March and so they started talking.

"Heh..." Letting her eyes wander, not having had much chance to properly enjoy the garden, Nao was trying hard to get used to all the new faces and names. "She is younger than you, right? Ellen, I mean."

"About two years, yes. Are Sunny and Beauty both the same age as you?" Setsuna had long since grown used to making new friends quickly, just like Love.

"I'm actually the oldest on the team. I'm nineteen and so is Miyuki. The other three are eighteen and Akane and Reika are the youngest. Not that it makes much difference now." Sighing, Nao looked at her feet. "It bugs me more that I'm so much taller than them..."

"You are quite tall.. I think only Moonlight and Miki could compare. You might actually be as tall as Miki." If she had stood side to side with March, there would have been quite the difference. "Does it bother you in general?" Setsuna didn't quite know what to think, considering March looked even taller than she really was due to her ponytail.

"Well..." Nao thought about it briefly before answering. "It's usually very handy at work but it gets a little awkward when I'm with Akane because..." Her voice dying down as she was about to go into dangerously embarrassing territory, Nao blushed. "I'd be happy with a few centimeters less."

"I'm amazed that Sunny and Beauty get along despite only one of them being with you at the time."

"They had to get along... if you knew what kind of nonsense those two pulled to make me stay single..." Sighing, Nao stopped walking and sat down on a bench, watching the pond. "One time I had a date with this guy I met at a soccer game. A completely frenzied Reika showed up, claiming to not know me and be the actual girlfriend of my date. She was disguised but it was really obvious. How long does she think I've known her? It turned into a huge fiasco and my date just ran away, frenzy Reika after her."

"That's... horrible. Why would she do that?" Setsuna sat down next to March, a little concerned about Beauty. "Do they still do these things?"

"They stopped after I gave in and started going out with those two. Their methods were really horrible but I'm not mad anymore. I was quite angry when they sabotaged my every attempt to find a boyfriend, but knowing why they did it made it hard to stay mad."

"It's kind of amazing you would agree to date them after all that." Setsuna intuitively pulled away a few centimeters when she saw Nao's expression darken and a terrifying grin flit over her lips. "Ma... March?"

An equally terrifying giggle escaped Nao. "I paid them back in full for all the horrible things they put me through." Getting a hold of herself, she grinned. "I took the two of them for a training camp and put them through hell. Akane was unable to work for a week, so sore and exhausted was she."

"You had me worried there for a moment." Setsuna felt relieved and took a deep breath. "I thought you had them tied up or something."

Starting to laugh, Nao shook her head. "No, no. I'm not into stuff like that. I just thought that if they have that much extra energy, I would help them use it up."

Not too far from them was Yayoi, crouching and rapidly drawing sketches, a thin line of drool running from the corner of her mouth, her eyes lit up like stars, murmuring words to herself. "You're so naughty Nao... heh... heh... you got Akane already... oh you naughty... pushing her down like that... so forceful..."

The yellow Cure didn't notice that she was in plain view for the two girls that were jogging through the garden. "Shouldn't we tell her she is in plain view for everyone but those two?" Saki had felt a little frustrated after waking up without Mai and asked Nagisa out for some exercise.

"She'll be fine. I'm more worried about you. Ever since we that mishap you and Mai... I feel responsible for that." Nagisa almost fell when Saki punched her shoulder. "Ouch! What was that for?"

"Being stupid. I ended up with Honoka, too, and you two didn't end up having problems. And I think most of it is because of Wither." Saki slowed down a little as they reached the flower hill.

"Honoka was saying that she hasn't forgotten about it... I'm probably not gonna get any for a while." Matching Saki's speed, Nagisa kept up easily.

"Welcome to my world right now. Well, not like we can even see them outside the dome." With a sigh, she looked at Nagisa and grinned. "Well," Pointing at her friend, "Worst case scenario and I'll come to you." Saki took the joke a little too far.

"That's not funny, Saki." Increasing her speed and getting ahead, Nagisa didn't want to listen to talk like that. Her loyalty to Honoka was peerless.

"Nagisa!" Catching up, Saki short her an apologetic look. "I'm sorry. I'm just frustrated that I can't do anything for Mai."

"Things will be back to normal soon. You and Mai have been together for so long, I really doubt there is anything that could separate you two for long." Speeding up a little more, Nagisa decided to lift the mood a little. "You know what?" Looking at Saki, Nagisa grinned wide. "Beat me to the dome and I'll think about comforting you." Taking off at max speed, Saki was left in the dust.

"Geez, and you tell me it's not funny!" Sprinting after Nagisa, Saki almost ran over Yayoi, who had seemingly finished drawing, a bit of drool running from her mouth. "Sorry!"

=== Dissonance ===

"What happened to you, Nozomi?" Miyuki was fidgeting while Luminous was placing a band aid over the last of Dream's bruises. "It looks like someone beat you up."

"I must have slipped and fell down the stairs." Nozomi smiled and then immediately flinched from the pain, Luminous looking a bit worried. "I'm a bit of a klutz." Sitting on her bed, several others were in the room. Beside Miyuki and Hikari, there were Komachi and also Urara, both of them hurrying to Nozomi's side when they heard she was found unconscious at the bottom stairs of level one.

Standing a bit in the back and whispering to just Komachi, Urara was suspicious of this. "She's a Cure. Injuries like that aren't just from falling down stairs. We can endure getting slammed into reinforced brick walls."

"You think someone did this to her?" Komachi couldn't think of anyone that would want to harm Nozomi like that. "Maybe it's an aftereffect from her battle with Nightmare."

"Could be. Even if we asked her, she'd just deny it so we don't worry. But I think we should keep an eye on her." Urara looked at Miyuki. "I don't trust the new girls yet. The way she's all worried about Nozomi only makes her more suspicious."

Komachi took a long look at Miyuki, who was apparently very concerned for her new friend. "She seems like a good person, though."

"If it's not her or one of the newcomers, I got one more guess. Remember, who was the angriest with Dream, other than Rin, after she blew the battle right when Beat went insane in exile?"

Komachi tried to remember, putting her palm against her chin. Urara got bored of waiting and simply told her. "Moonlight. She went through hell because of the reflections. What if she blames Nozomi for it? Nightmare was the one that caused the most trouble, so it'd make sense to pin it on her original."

Her eyes revealed how worried Komachi was, hearing Urara suspect other Cures of violence like that. But she couldn't quench the doubt that there might be some truth to it. That thing that had happened in the garden, when they merged Moonlight and her reflection...

"In any case..." Urara took a step towards the door, stopping briefly, talking only loud enough for Komachi to hear her. "I'm going to keep an eye on her. If someone is attacking Nozomi for some bullshit reason, I'm going to hang them up to dry."

Komachi couldn't shake off the doubt that Urara was not joking and would literally hang them up somewhere. Watching Happy and Nozomi laugh, Miyuki looking relieved that the other pink Cure was fine, she found it hard to believe that the girl would secretly hurt Nozomi.

Luminous walked out the door, going to put away the first aid kid she had bought for favor just a while ago, and witnessed an ugly scene. Sunny was standing in the middle of the hallway, petrified, with Urara standing next to her, a scornful look in her eyes. Noticing Luminous, Lemonade left, leaving a slightly frightened Sunny behind.

"What's up with her? Lookin' like she's gonna bury me alive or somethin'." She had felt a heavy chill run down her back when the yellow Cure glared at her. "Does she think we got anythin' to do with Dream fallin' down stairs or somethin'?"

"She'll calm down soon. Just do not provoke her, okay?" Hikari didn't want to have any feuds going on between Cures. But it did bother her. Dream's injuries were more like she had been thrown down the stairs with a lot of force.

"It ain't good pinnin' this on us just 'cause we're new." Akane didn't like that attitude but she knew better than to start of a fight with someone like that. Going into the room and jabbing Miyuki on the head, Akane gave her a worrying look. "What'cha doin' getting' ya self into trouble 'ready?"

"I didn't do anything, Akane! I just left for the toilet and when I came back, Nozomi was all battered, lying at the bottom of the stairs." Miyuki wasn't stupid. She could see how it was easy to suspect her. "If not for Nozomi we would still be in... in... what's the word?"

"Stasis? Reika explained it to you yesterday. Twice!" Akane only remembered because she had listened to it twice as well.

"Yes, that! I'm really grateful she got us out! Why would I want to hurt her?!"

"Miyuki." Nozomi interrupted their conversation. "I just missed a stair. It couldn't remember and took a wrong step and boom. I can be a bit of a klutz at times." A pleading look to Komachi and the green Cure didn't correct her on the 'bit' part of being a klutz.

=== Dissonance ===

"Yuri!" Miki called out to her crush. "Finally found you!" After hearing about the bizarre action with Dream, she put one and one together and wanted to get to Yuri before anyone else did.

"I was making myself rare. I still have to sort out things in my head." Standing in the very back of the garden, Yuri was calmly watching a small patch of flowers that had a special meaning for her.

Now that she had finally tracked down the girl she had chased after so long, Miki was a little at a loss for words. "We started out on different teams, then the whole deal with the reflections happened... I think this is the first time we meet face to face without some kind of invisible wall to separate us."

Yuri chuckled. "Just don't jump me." Crouching down and looking at the beautiful white flowers, Yuri felt confronted with feelings and issues she would have liked to forget for just a little while longer. She remembered everything up to when she was sent into exile and there was just an enormous blank right after. "I heard it was a pretty horrible. The reflection issue. Makes me think having this enormous hole in my memories is not all that bad."

"You don't remember anything?" Stepping forward and crouching next to Yuri, she saw that it was Lilies that she had been looking at. Smiling at the obvious relation, Yuri's name itself could also mean lily after all, Miki kept her eyes on the flowers. "About the reflections, the exile, the chaos that Nightmare caused?"

Shaking her head, Yuri looked slightly up. "Say Miki," Making a meaningful pause and turning to the blue Cure, Yuri had a look in her eyes that Miki had never seen before. "Tsubomi told me what you had to do to get me back. Thanks."

"You seem different, Yuri. Is it because of Eclipse?" Miki sat down, carefully avoiding pushing down the flowers when she stretched out her legs.

"Maybe. Or maybe I'm just fed up with everything that has happened in my life. It keeps derailing from one catastrophe into another. And maybe I'm thinking that only because of Eclipse."

"That's," Grinning a little, Miki pulled on Yuri's arm, forcing her to sit down. "not something you should really care about. I'm just glad you're okay."

"Do you still want to go out with me?" Yuri couldn't and didn't want to decide if she was happy or bothered by having parts of Eclipse's personality shine through her own.

Without even a hint of embarrassment, Miki nodded twice. "You know the answer to that and still asked. Very unlike you."

"I'll blame it on Eclipse." Taking a deep breath, Yuri's eyes wandered to her right, starting at Miki's long legs, up to her slender waist and decent bust, to her long hair and pretty face. "Wearing anything in normal form?"

"Not right now. The clothes I had got lost with my old room." She had changed countless times in front of other models and assistants so it didn't really bother her to admit it.

"Well," Just following a whim, Yuri leaned against Miki's shoulder. "that's fine then." Remaining silent for a couple minutes, Yuri smiled softly after. "Ask me out one more time."

"You're my ideal woman and I like you. I want you to go out with me." Not moving at all, letting Yuri remain in the idle position she was in, Miki confessed her feelings as if it was nothing special. "I'm sorry if that sounds a bit dry."

"I'm fine with that." Grabbing Miki's hand, Yuri exhaled once deeply, thinking just one thing. Sorry, Momoka. But we don't live in the same world. "And I like my drinks dry, no worries there."

"You're different from before. More... how do I put this..." Miki tried hard to think of words that weren't offensive. "More easygoing. You don't seem to worry as much."

Smiling and pushing a bit against Miki, Yuri was well aware of the change. "Only worrying about things and never acting only gets me pulled into one mess after another. I like Momoka but I should never have agreed to date her. It drove me crazy, worrying that some new enemy could end up taking her hostage or killing her. And it sometimes even interfered with her work and my studies."

"I think I like you even better this way. I thought you worried too much about things instead of just doing what you want."

"Without Eclipse I would probably still act like that. But I don't mind being a little bit more decisive about issues. I feel bad for Momoka and Erika is gonna throw a tantrum but it's my life. If Momoka knew how much sleep I was losing just over being with her, she probably wouldn't be happy being with me."

"Speaking of sleep... mind letting me just sleep in the same bed as you? I'm down in the trash room with Buki, that's Pine, and Blossom."

"Rejected. Not today."

"Was worth a try. I wonder what we're going to have lined up for fighting today. The participation board should be lit up by now."

"Miki." Yuri could feel the blue haired girl shiver a little. Letting herself fall back into the grass, Yuri looked up at the tall girl sitting next to her. She wondered what kissing her would be like. Grabbing Miki's left arm and pulling, forcing her off balance, Yuri wanted to find out. Right there.

=== Dissonance ===

Karen could feel the pressure, those eyes watching her every motion, closely examining her every reaction and action. Did blinking reveal she was not pleased with Beauty's choice of terrain? Did her breathing become faster just skimming the numbers, recalling what every single one was? Did Beauty realize the implication of those differences? "Awfully observant, are we not?" Trying to distract Beauty with some empty phrases, careful to not reveal that she was feeling the pressure the other blue Cure was putting on her.

Their eyes met, a single sign of a confident smile on Aqua's lips, a long blink, a hint of even the tiniest of grins, Reika found herself to be surprisingly pushed far beyond what she expected to have to deal with. "Please, I am merely judging if you are enjoying this as much as I." She did not enjoy it one bit. She had noticed early that she was smarter than Aqua but it was impossible to say by how much. It could have been leagues and yet also only steps. And what kept her worried was that indomitable posture, that unscalable spirit that refused to give in even after over thirty minutes of talking. Laying out bait with rules that would be unfavorable for her own team, conceding and retreating, pushing then and imposing new rules, rejecting suggestions and conceding again, words flowing back and forth. And it was still far from over.

"This will not work at all. You should be well aware that both teams have to approve Magnetic Repel before it can be put in play. You have not yet consulted me on whether I will concede on this or not." Karen pushed back on Beauty's latest set of suggestions, knowing full well that Magnetic Repel would be a very handy rule to have in effect. "I'm willing to, just this once, let you owe me and demand no concession in exchange. However, if you desire Lethal Risk, we shall take Restoration in exchange." Unless a rule that was possible to apply to just one team was approved by both, the other team could not take it as well. Forcing her off the rule served no practical purpose since it would mean having to compromise. And she didn't want to take Lethal Risk herself.

Reika was impressed that Aqua had managed to push that hard. By quickly closing the matter with an assumed approval of her going along with Magnetic Repel, Reika found that her trap had backfired, the otherwise disadvantageous rule to her now formally applied and confirmed. Retreating now would severely weaken her situation as the aggressor in the negotiation. After fixing the terrain, Retaliation and Master, she had figured that Aqua would be easy to corner and play to her whim. A grave mistake to underestimate her. "Very well. You can have Restoration." Restoration would be troublesome if her team prolonged the battle, but no such thing would happen with the weight of offense her own team could bring in.

The way she worded that put Karen on the defensive again. It was like Beauty was continuously a step ahead. She gave in too easily. Was there a downside to number forty-four, Restoration? Or was she simply confident enough that their team could take hers with such ease that a prolonged battle was not going to be a possibility? Was that her reason for combining Lethal Risk and Master? "I have yet to understand why you desire Retaliation to be included with these other rules. It seems unlikely to have any effect, considering we have just agreed on Magnetic Repel." Aqua tried a careful push, gauging what Beauty was planning.

And she jumped right into a trap. "If you dislike it, we do not need to use it. All things considered you are probably right." Giving up this easily on her proposition would make it seem like she had planned to abandon it to begin with, bait to force another compromise. But in reality, she wanted that rule. Not badly, but it would be helpful. Weaken an enemy, leave them where one of their allies might find them and deal the finishing blow when they are close. A simple trap but guaranteed to work since Cures value friendship very highly. Magnetic Repel took time to kick in, especially with Cures moving at high speeds.

"No. I just saw no use in having it. If you want it, please, be my guest." Karen had her suspicions about whether Beauty really wanted the rule or not. It was difficult to tell. Her expression was stoic, as if it was frozen solid and she did not exhibit any suspicious movements. There was something odd about it. What was it? What was she missing? Something about Retaliation that she had forgotten?

Reika did not miss the that Aqua tensed up slightly, likely frantically trying to think about Retaliation. The way she had presented the rule and acted, she had made it look like it required both teams to agree upon it's use when in fact it was as detailed as letting each team decide on how many members it will use the rule. Not specifying this would simply cause the system to use it on everyone. "Now then, this leaves two more items on our agency. Number fifty-six, Legacy Blast, proposed by you, and number sixty-eight, Equivalent Exchange, proposed by me. I am willing to grant you exclusive use of Legacy Blast for the use of Equivalent Exchange." Not letting Aqua take enough time to recall the error she had made with Retaliation, Reika pushed ahead, forcing a quick decision on Aqua in her confused and cornered state.

"I will have to think about this." She needed time. Beauty was pushing her too hard. Legacy Blast was undoubtedly going to be a great asset for her own team, but if Beauty was so quick to back out of using it herself, there was something fishy about it. Another trap? Should she grant her rights to use Legacy Blast as well and demand a compromise for agreeing additionally on Equivalent Exchange? But what should she chose?

"Well, I expected you to recognize a fair proposal. It seems I might have overestimated you." A clever argument. If Aqua retreated on the proposal now, she would be even more on the defensive than before and if she wanted to turn things around she had little choice but to agree.

"A fair proposal does not include one side getting an advantage while the other does not." Karen had dealt with a fair share of high society due to her line of work. She could recognize an obvious pitfall if she saw one. The only way out was to distract from the point at hand. "To regain equality between our teams, I propose the inclusion of rule thirty-one, Invincibility Cage."

"That will do nothing to restore equal proportions of advantage and disadvantage. We do not mind you owing us a favor, so please, pay no mind to your advantage of having Legacy Blast solely." Reika was starting to feel like Aqua had the potential to out-do her if she kept going for a long time.

"Well then." Karen was tired. While high society employed the concept of saying nothing with many words and cleverly talking your way in and out of things, a single opponent was rarely this smart. After her offer was shot down, she would just settle to end it quickly before Beauty got even more the upper hand. "I accept the use of Equivalent Exchange."

"Then we are done here." Reika got what she wanted but not without having to compromise. She did not anticipate the other side picking out Restoration and forcing Magnetic Repel through her trap. Noticing her little finger twitching a periodically, Reika was sure that Aqua did not accomplish everything she had set out to. "I am looking forward to the results, Aqua."

"So do I." Forcing a smile, feeling that she had lost this match but not without landing a couple of heavy blows to Beauty's strategy, Karen wanted to go up against Beauty again. A battle of minds was much more entertaining than she had thought. Stepping on the teleportation plate first, Karen vanished, leaving behind a slightly annoyed Reika.

"You are an interesting person, Cure Aqua." Reika felt satisfied. It had been a long time since she met someone who could stand up to her in an intellectual match. She would like to go up against Honoka if possible. Maybe she should switch teams.

=== Dissonance ===

"Kanade." There was a certain seriousness that would not tolerate disobedience in how she pronounced her name.

"What is it, Rin?" Naivety in Kanade's voice.

"Let go." Breathing a sigh of relief when Kanade finally let go of her arm, Rin felt a little sorry for herself. She wasn't cold-hearted enough to leave Kanade on her own and watch her self-destruct but it was a bit annoying. Her next thought was to cut the 'bit'. "I meant for more than five seconds."

"Why didn't you come up to my room? I forgot about the new rooms when I woke up and panicked a little." Kanade was trying her hardest to be aware of when she was acting impulsively from her issues. Since Rin had already told her about a dozen times to stop clinging to her in just the last two hours, she wasn't exactly doing great.

"Short answer, I was too tired. After all that yesterday and then going into a fight on top of that, I just wanted to sleep. And you would have kept me awake, no doubt." Making a mess out of Kanade's hair with her right hand, Rin kept walking towards the kitchen, feeling a bit peckish.

"Because I'm so irresistible?" Putting on her best smile, Kanade tried to appeal to Rin. She didn't want to spend another night alone. "Ouch! That's mean, Rin!" The red Cure flicked her forehead.

"Don't be so conceited. It's true but that doesn't mean you're supposed to go tooting your own horn." Rin didn't feel any embarrassment over freely admitting how attractive Kanade was to her. "And that's why I stayed down in my own room. I really wasn't in any condition to make out or have sex with you." Just as she said that, Kanade right by her side, Luminous and Egret walked past those two, the former's face slightly red, clearly having overheard what she said.

"I still don't know what I'm supposed to do about helping you get over your issues. Maybe I'll ask Karen-" Rin stopped talking and turned her head. "Kanade?" Sighing hard, Rin patted her head, the blonde having ran up to her and hug her from behind. "You're not gonna get better if you're afraid of people getting to know you. And I'm not smart enough figuring this out on my own." Rin felt a bit of pity for herself, admitting that.

"Can't you try?" Kanade hid her face on Rin's back. Remaining there and holding on to the red Cure, she suddenly felt her legs go up in the air. Instead of crashing to the ground from the loss, she was caught by her arm. "Rin! No violence!"

"No clinging!" Rin fired back and helped Kanade up. "Let's get to the kitchen." Waiting for Kanade to walk by her side, no hand holding or clinging allowed, Rin sighed. "I'll try."

With a certain glee in her eyes, Kanade was completely fixated on Rin until said girl grabbed her arm and pulled her over, holding the blonde in her arms. "Ah, not in the hallway~!" Kanade was having trouble keeping her head out of the clouds that morning.

"Next time I let you walk into the wall." Letting go of the smaller girl, Rin passed the doorway and headed into the dinner room. Kanade was left behind, watching at the solid wall she had almost walked into.

Finding both Bright and Windy in the dinner room, talking over some snacks, was unexpected for Rin. Ignoring the pleas of Kanade for her to wait, she kept walking and vanished into the kitchen, the white Cure right on her track.

"I'm not sure it is a wise decision to rely on Pine." Michiru didn't quite believe her capable of helping out. "If we want someone to help us, we should ask one that is known for their emotions."

"Michiru, don't be silly. How many of the others do you think will be able to explain things to us? Not to mention, we are not exactly everyone's favorite conversation partner. I was lucky that Inori invited me in."

"The offer only stands for you, doesn't it? What am I to do?" Putting her elbow on the table and sulking a little, Michiru didn't agree with just Kaoru getting Pine to help her.

"Why are you taking so much issue with this? What ever stopped either of us from sharing her knowledge with the other?" Kaoru was not going to pass on the offer. If Inori was generous enough to help her without asking for compensation, it would likely be rude to reject her.

"It just doesn't sit well with me. I can't quite say why exactly but the more I think about it the more I dislike it." Michiru scuffled through her hair, trying to make sense of what she was saying. "Disregard what I said. I'm clearly not in condition to think clearly."

"Chances like this do not come often, so I didn't plan on letting it go unused. Don't look so frustrated Michiru." Taking her sisters hand, Kaoru put on a smile. Something she had learned from Mai. "We always wanted to be more like normal people and this is our chance."

"You're right. But Pine is on the other team right now, isn't she? Do you intend to participate in the exchange today?" Something else she didn't like, being separated from Kaoru. The day was shaping up to be a rather annoying one.

"Yes." Kaoru looked at the clock that hung above the window that connected the kitchen and dinner hall, something the team received for winning the last battle. It had come as a surprise that there had been a material reward on top of extra team favor. "It is about time for me to leave. Michiru," Looking at her sister, she smiled briefly. "You'll be okay on your own for a day or two, right?"

"I'm the one that always does the heavy work. I'm more worried about you. But at least Mai is on the other side." Standing up and catching a glimpse of Rouge in the kitchen, holding Rhythm at distance by simply putting her hand against her blonde's forehead, she hoped things would stay peaceful for now.

But that was far from what was about to happen. Accompanying her sister to the exchange gate, there was a whole mob in front of it. Saki was there, as well as Aqua, Black, Marine, Rose, March and Sunshine. Half the team was going to compete to make it over to the other side. With the threat of exile gone, there was no more reluctance of participating.

"You two too? Jeez, nobody likes it here, do they?" Erika joked, a bit worried by the sheer number of participants.

"Is anyone else coming?" Karen was no less worried than Marine. "Bright, Windy, are you two participating as well?" Karen felt not very comfortable with both Black and Bloom doing stretching exercises in the back, clearly fired up.

"Michiru is not. I will." Kaoru stepped forward and forced her way through the others to Saki. "You're going too, Saki?" Michiru left behind, quickly retreated, unwilling to get caught in the chaos of when the exchange started.

"The rules are simple. Whoever finds and enters the golden portal inside the labyrinth beyond the exchange gate will transfer to the other team. Everyone else will be warped out the moment someone transfers. Our labyrinth is separate from that of the light team, so you don't have to worry about running into others, not from this team. Purposefully attacking each other with the intent to knock them out is punished by the system by warping you out immediately." Karen cleverly left out that smaller offenses, such as pushing someone out of the way or using them as stepping stone, or even holding them up with tricks and chains, was well within the rules. She wanted to get back together with Komachi after all.

"So fastest wins." Erika felt a lot more confident now. Black and Bloom were strong in a fight but she could easily out-run them. Aqua, Itsuki and Rose would be easy as well. The main problem would be March, who looked awfully confident. "Tsubomi, wait for me~!" Doing a few stretches herself, Erika started laughing. "Feels a lot like a school sports festival."

"Don't even start talking about bread eating contests." Kurumi remembered a very embarrassing event she would have liked to forever bury in her memories. Walking over to Sunshine, Kurumi was curious about March. "You're the only one of us here that saw March fight. Is she fast?"

"Don't know how fast she's in long term but she did leave a very speedy impression during the fight." Itsuki didn't like the idea of cheating at events like this but the desire to get back to Hibiki was fighting on equal grounds with her pride of always playing fair.

With a slowly intensifying light, the exchange gate was slowly swinging open, revealing a small room with glowing floor tiles. Erika was the first to push herself through the still opening doors, vanishing the instant she stepped on the glowing tiles. The others following her as quickly as they could, they all found themselves on top of a vast tower, a single stair case leading downwards into a jungle of paths between even more enormous towers.

A thick energy field was preventing them from leaving. "We even get a countdown. Amazing!" Erika pointed at the big golden number that was visible in each cardinal direction. "Five... four...!" Going for a quick start, Erika didn't even thinking about walking down. She would just jump right off and then just figure something out.

The energy barrier vanished the instant the golden number hit zero, vanishing as well, and the Cures immediately separated. Black and Bloom took off with full force, jumping off the edge of the tower and using their sheer physical power to slam their fists into the tower a few dozen meters away, climbing it like it was the easiest thing in the world.

Kurumi took the opposite route and simply went down the stairs together with Aqua, reminded a lot of when they used to fight together. Sunshine took a route similar to Black and Bloom but utilized the power of her legs, jumping from wall to wall to gain height rapidly. Marine took the simplest way of all and just jumped off the edge, heading for the ground.

Windy and March remained on top of the tower. "Not going to run?" Kaoru was slightly confused as to why the green Cure wouldn't move but she had her own issues to deal with. Assessing the situation, she tried to pinpoint all the likely places the portal would be, hoping that taking the high ground was an error and the portal was hidden in or around one of the hundreds of buildings at the ground.

"I'm giving them a handicap. It wouldn't be fair otherwise. How about you?" Nao was extremely confident in her speed and that there was nobody in the world that could out-run her in Cure form. Being able to kick up a tornado wasn't just for show.

Kaoru ignored Nao and continued to make mental notes of the route she would take. The rules didn't mention that they had to leave the area intact, which was helpful. "Storm Cutter!" Emitting a dangerously sharp wind blade towards one of the smaller towers, Kaoru felt satisfied seeing it get cut in half. The material was different from the one used for the bases. Taking a powerful leap and just barely making it on top of the tower she had cut, Kaoru continued that way, forming her own path.

Nao was left behind on her own and figured that she had waited long enough. "I'll better get going. Reika and Akane are going to be mad if I screw up. Gale Roam!" Miniature gusts and tornado forming around Nao's wrists and ankles, she was quite happy to have mastered this ability. Running fast was one thing. But running the way she did, was much better. Taking off and simply running off the edge, Nao used the air like her own private road, capable of kicking off the air currents she created herself, allowing her to almost fly, air running.

Black and Bloom had just scaled the highest tower, working as a team, going to decide with rock-paper-scissors who was going to enter the portal when they found it. Being friends for such a long time paid off after all. Seeing March literally race through the air as if she was on a newly cleaned track made them yell out in frustration. "Unfair!" "That's cheating!" "Get down here, you..!"

Shooting through the air, each step kicking her forwards with the power of an enormous gust of wind, she could see some of the others on the ground, frantically looking around. The purple Cure, Rose, was not exactly looking but rather demolishing everything in her path. There was an at least twenty meter wide path of demolished buildings where she had gone. "Don't ever want to be in her way..."

On top of a nearby tower, covered in bruises, Erika was watching the green Cure use the air like it was her own private highway. With stars in her eyes, she promised herself to find a way to copy that ability. But for now, she had a race to win. Putting her hands together and facing the ground, Erika took a deep breath. The words she shouted after left an echo that reached all the way up March. "Marine Beam!"

Using the emitting water from her hands as a lift, similar to a geyser, Marine shot herself far up into the sky, right where March was. A second was all it took for the blue Cure to attach herself to the new girl like a parasite. "Got you!" The words out of reach had no meaning whatsoever for Erika.

"Get off me!" Hopping around, slowing down and gaining height, Nao tried to get the pesky little Cure off her back. But the more the struggled the tighter Erika's hold got. A nifty little trick she had learned from Itsuki a while back. "What are you, an ape? Get off me already!"

"Not happening!" One arm around Nao's throat, the other going just under her breasts, both legs wrapped around her waist, there was no way for March to get her off, short of attacking her enough to get disqualified. And Erika knew that.

"Have it your way! Tempest High!" Increasing the force around her ankles enormously and ceasing those around her wrists, Nao kicked off the air so hard that Erika couldn't even see from the wind's sheer blowing force.

March was able to attain a maximum speed of nearly three thousand kilometers per hour for just a few minutes before she exhausted herself. The ultimate sprint in Cure form, designed for shot bursts only or when danger warranted moving that fast. Reaching a tower and kicking off again, the construct was obliterated by the backlash of the air current, as if a tornado had taken a big bite out of it.

And Erika couldn't handle the pressure. Unable to hold on, she let go of March, falling to the ground, only a speck in the distance by the time Nao had turned her head around. Grinning, she quickly realized that it was a very bad idea to use Tempest High indoors. The impact of smashing into a tower at such high speed completely destroyed the building, the explosion of her impact shooting off bricks in every direction.

Seeing Erika fall, Itsuki decided to be a good friends foremost and a victor later, using a cluster of buildings and their walls to catch the blue Cure, whose hair would need a lot of care to return to normal. She looked like Frankenstein's bride.

Just as Itsuki was about to land she noticed a rapidly louder growing noise. Getting out of the way just in time, the wall of one of the builders exploded with such force that even the fragments turned to dust. "Earth Bomb!" Bloom came shooting out of the dust cloud, flying all the way across the gap between buildings, "Earth Hammer!", and breaking right through the next wall. A split second later, a wall further away suffered the same fate, Black being responsible for the destruction this time around.

"They're almost walking demolition devices... " Letting Erika down, the poor girl completely out of it after being taken for a ride on the world's fastest express, Itsuki was about to resume her search when she suddenly found herself back in the starting room. "Huh?" Within a second, seven more Cures showed up. "Someone found the portal already?"

Nao was covered in dust, and so were Nagisa and Saki. They were all there, excluding Kurumi. "No way! Rose got there first? Of all the people! She doesn't even have a partner waiting for her!" Nagisa was falling on her knees, shocked by her sudden loss. "Unbelievable!"

"That did not even last ten minutes..." Kaoru would have to change tactics if the exchange could finish that quickly.

=== Dissonance ===

"Hikari!" Kurumi had already reunited with her friend. She felt a little bad for all the others that didn't get to go back to their partners but it was every girl for herself in the exchange race!

Hugging the purple Cure, Hikari felt relieved to have her back. She had felt a little lonely without her around. And the kitchen clean up was taking a lot longer without her, too. "Good to see you."

"So, while we have gotten Milky Rose, the other team now counts Melody among their ranks. I have to say I am relieved to have her with us. She is very strong, is she not?" Reika was still in business mode, not quite in the mood to relax yet. The battle was still ahead of them.

"Rose is a real asset in battle and in the kitchen." Love was sitting in-between Reika and Honoka, the three of them just passing the item until the battle with telling old stories. "Melody was pretty lucky to get into the portal first. If Buki hadn't crashed into Egret and both of them going down, she wouldn't have made it."

"An enormous hallway with several floors and ramps connecting them seems hardly fair. But tomorrow is another day. I'm more worried about who is going to end up in exile later." Honoka saw no reason to participate herself. She wasn't exactly very fast and Nagisa would try to come over anyway.

Just as she thought about that, Mai walked into the dinning hall, her fingers rubbing the left side of her forehead. "That Pine has one hard head... Ah," Noticing her old friend, she waved at her. "Honoka, I was looking for you."

"Are you feeling okay? From what I hear you and Pine really hit your heads." Honoka wasn't very worried. They were Cures after all. A bit more sturdy than the average person, to put it lightly.

"Yes," Nodding and sitting down next to Honoka, Mai looked at the tired out Peach and figured that she was disappointed she didn't get to go. "I was just at the dome and met Saki. She tried to come over but didn't make it. They had eight people participating over there!"

"That's one more than our side. Not surprising, considering how many couples the system split up. It's almost cruel." Love wasn't very happy about spending another day away from Setsuna and Ellen. "Say, Rose gets the room Melody was in until the next room assignment after the battle tomorrow, right?".

"According to the guide book, yes." Reika could see where this was going. "If one from the lower rooms changes with one of the upper rooms, they get access to the high quality facilities without actually qualifying for their use through battling." It was one way to bypass the accumulation of favor but a rather risky and random one.

Just outside the dinning hall, Miki was explaining the new system to Yuri, who had slept through all of it. Unexpectedly, Yuri was a lot more open about the relationship they now had than she expected. Holding hands and walking close together, they gave no doubt the image of a couple. "The exile is now something the lowest scoring participant of a battle is subject to, so as long as you fight seriously there is no way you'll ever end up there again." Miki was well aware of how strong Yuri was.

"Seems a lot of things changed while I was unconscious. Most changed for the better though. Being able to see and talk to the people on the other team for a fee is really useful." Looking over her shoulder, Yuri noticed Tsubomi following her and Miki. "We're being tailed." Grinning as she said that, she kept walking normally, hand in hand with her new partner. "Don't look, you'll give it away I noticed. It's just Tsubomi."

Miki sighed, "When she tells Marine," and rolled eyes, "We'll have another fight on our hands."

"Leave Erika to me. She is really close to Momoka but that doesn't mean she has any right to decide what I'm allowed to do or not. She has no idea how hard it was for me to let go." Yuri squeezed Miki's hand, feeling already exhausted when thinking about having to deal with an angry Erika. The girl could be so very stubborn it was a pain. Maybe she would ask Tsubomi to keep a lid on her.

Miki tried to turn at the junction, towards the dome, while Yuri kept going straight, towards the labyrinth. "We're not going up?" Following Yuri without waiting for an answer, she didn't really mind where they were going. It felt good to simply be with the girl she liked. And considering how long it had taken her to get to this point, she felt like she deserved to feel that way.

"I've been out for a while. I want to test if there are any problems with my body and powers." Noticing Miki's overplayed lewd stare, Yuri laughed. "Stop it with the fake pervert look. It doesn't suit you."

In the distance, the edge of the entrance to the labyrinth, Tsubomi was still following them. After meeting Erika at the dome, her partner had asked her to keep an eye on Yuri. "Erika is gonna make another fuss if she hears about this..." Closing her eyes for a few seconds and just imagining Yuri and Erika fighting, Tsubomi felt very annoyed. Why couldn't they just respect each others commitment and decisions? Looking up, both Yuri and Miki were gone without a trace.

Stepping out from her hiding spot, that really was not doing a very good job of hiding her because of the pink costume, Tsubomi couldn't see them anywhere. Did they run off quickly so she would lose them? Taking another step forward, Tsubomi felt an ice cold chill run down her back. Something incredibly dangerous was right behind her. That was the last thing she felt before everything around her went black in an instant.

=== Dissonance ===

"She can't remember. She only felt something dangerous behind her and lost consciousness." Komachi had found Tsubomi laying flat on the ground right at the labyrinth entrance and taken her to the dinning hall, unable to find either Pine or Berry, the two that occupied the same room as Blossom.

"If there is something creeping around it is doing a very good job at hiding." Urara had no doubt that this was the work of the same perpetrator as the one that had hit Nozomi earlier. "And it's strong. It had to knock out Blossom in one go and be quick enough to vanish before Nozomi realized what was going on."

Egret, Peach, White and Beauty were present as well. "Do you think it's a reflection that somehow survived?" Honoka put out the worst case scenario right away. "But why just push her down stairs and knock Blossom out? Especially, leave them for us to find. It seems contradictory to do that if it wanted to really hurt someone."

"No," Mai shook her head. The theory didn't line up. "The mirrors are all gone, so I don't think a reflection is the source of this."

"A new entity that is unrelated to previous incidents? Have you encountered any native species in this space before?" Reika wasn't moved in either way at the prospect of something, that could very much be classified as alien, lurking around, just out of their sight.

Honoka waved her hand and rejected the idea of aliens. "This space only exists for us." Summoning her favor bag, she took out a coin as if to symbolize that fact. "There are no resources of any kind here that a living being could use for nourishment. Much less something sentient enough to specifically do what has happened to Dream and Blossom."

Urara wasn't in the most patient mood. "So, one of our own went and beat them up. Isn't that the most logical option then?" She didn't like the stares of White and Egret but Beauty seemed to seriously consider that option.

"Is there anyone that harbors a grudge against both Dream and Blossom?" Reika didn't know better and was surprised to meet the same cold glare that Lemonade had received before. "That shall suffice as answer. In any case, we will have to postpone this investigation until later. Fifteen minutes remain until the battle."

Urara was in an even worse mood than before now. "This better not turn into some kind of horror movie where we come back and find the base deserted." Reminding herself of Bright and Windy, she covered her face with her hand. Hopefully she didn't jinx it.

=== Dissonance ===

"You remember all the special rules, Kanade?" Rin was pumped to go and let off some steam. Beating Sunny the day before was excellent motivation to give her best.

"Magnetic Repel, Restoration, Legacy Blast, Retaliation, Equivalent Exchange and Master. Who went to negotiation that we ended up with so many?" Kanade had only memorized the core principle of each rule as Aqua had explained them before.

"Karen, I mean Aqua, did. She was up against Beauty. To be honest I don't mind some of these. Magnetic Repel is going to be really useful for you two." Looking at the third member of their party, Beat, Rin was hopeful that the other side wasn't full of people utilizing ranged attacks.

"I'll do my best." Ellen was a little nervous about fighting with so many special rules applied. Legacy Blast would make her attacks more threatening, Restoration would help her recover, Magnetic Repel kept others away. And if she managed to take out the captain of the enemy team first...

"You'll be fine, Ellen." Setsuna was there to see her partner off. "If Love is in the battle, don't think too much about it. She'd be more angry if you held back because of that." Kissing the blue Cure on her forehead, Setsuna stepped back, the battle gate slowly opening.

Rin put up her fist. "Time to kick their asses."

Stepping through the gate, Rin immediately wanted to go back. "Cold! It's so fucking cold! Who the hell settled on a goddamn Blizzard!?" Creating her fire claws and rapidly heating up, she grabbed Kanade and held her close. They were in the midst of a forest, tall trees in every direction, the wind blowing ice cold in their face, rapidly accumulating snow on their clothes and skin.

Looking around, there was no sign of the enemy. "I'll check the area." Ellen jumped as high as she could just passing the highest trees. The sky was darkened by the snow clouds and the blizzard made it difficult to see anything in the distance. Checking every direction, it was just a gigantic forest in every direction. Landing back down, found Rouge standing amidst a lush green field that had been hidden below the snow. Kanade was standing a few meters next to her, visibly comfortable with the temperatures now. "No sign of anything in any direction. But it's really hard to see anythi-" The explosion right below her feet threw her high into the air, a massive white energy pillar reaching into the air. Upside down in the air, she realized that there was one Cure that had perfect camouflage for a setting like this. White was crouching on one of the top branches of a nearby tree, her white and blue costume, the black hair, she was hardly visible at all.

Honoka raised her hand one more time. "Whitelight Illumination!" Targeting Rouge this time, the blast missed by a few centimeters, the red Cure cautious enough to not stand still. But she had accomplished what she had set out to do. Retreating into the dark distance of the blizzard, Honoka was grateful her costume covered most of her skin.

"The mark is up. My turn." Urara saw the white light marks from a few dozen meters distance if only because they were pillars of light, sticking out in the dark like a sore thumb. Jumping from tree to tree, Urara prepared to unleash a golden hell on the enemy team. But instead it was her who ran right into hell. The blizzard obscuring them until she was too close, Urara found herself surrounded by countless blue notes. "Shit! Chain Prison!" Creating a protective shell like a caterpillar, Urara was still damaged badly by the explosion. She shouldn't have accepted to be the receiving end of Lethal Risk.

Opening the prison, Urara found herself targeted by Rouge. But Urara knew well how to take advantage of the rules. Flinging a chain towards Rin, she hit her ankle and pulled her in close. The Magnetic Repel kicked in immediately, pushing them apart, forcing the chain to violently jerk on Rin's limb. Whistling, a sign that the plan had changed, Urara was flung back even further as Rin kept being pulled towards her by the chain and repelled by the Magnetic Force.

Four silhouettes appeared right around the point where Urara was going to end up in a second. They were completely white, almost translucent. "Cardinal Harmony!" The moment Urara passed the silhouettes, they fired. A shot from every cardinal direction, Urara managed to fight off two by cutting the chain that held Rin and using her arms to deflect the shots. The other two still hit and Urara could feel the effect of Lethal Risk once again. It was like dynamite was exploding right next to her body. Coughing up blood, she gasped for air. She was never going to put up with that rule ever again.

She had only taken two attacks and was already at the verge of losing. At least she wasn't the master of the team. Noticing Rhythm down on the ground, just about to catch Rin, Urara decided to pay her back in full. Another whistle from behind her signaled that reinforcements were on the way. Shooting a chain to the ground and aiming for the white Cure, Rin saw the attack coming, pulling herself around and in harms way, the chain tightly attaching itself to her throat and pulling her up high into the air.

Falling down, Urara could see that she wasn't going to fight much longer. What had looked like snow covered bushes and flowers were simply innumerable amounts of white and pale yellow notes, a minefield right below her. Throwing chains at the trees and preventing herself from crashing into it, Urara breathed a sigh of relief.

"Explosive Harmony!" With a click of her fingers, Kanade detonated every single note simultaneously, creating a massive explosion, hitting the yellow Cure and the area with enough force to destroy the trees she was using to prevent herself from falling. Kanade wasn't an excellent close range fighter but she was versatile in how she could use her energy attacks. And her only weakness, a lack of energy itself, was covered by Legacy Blast and Restoration.

Hearing a creaking noise, Kanade turned around too slowly to notice that the enemy had sacrificed one team member to spring a devastating trap. What the trap was she only realized when the freezing blade had already pierced her stomach, emerging from her back. Using Lemonade as bait and using White to split the team apart, Reika had used the snow and ice to move almost invisible through the area, sneaking up on Rhythm and impaling her with a glaive. Dropping to the ground and coloring the snow red, there was little doubt that she could still fight. Not only was Reika the master of the team and had doubled all of her abilities with that, she was also the benefactor of the Lethal Risk bonus, double all damage she did to the opponent. A quadruple damage impaling would knock out all but the most sturdy. And using a mid-range weapon, she was able to just get close enough before Magnetic Repel forced her away. As the first attack, she was not yet subject to equivalent exchange, able to deal fatal damage with a single attack. As Beauty jumped away, all the remaining energy Rhythm had stored caused an explosion powerful enough to knockout the badly wounded Lemonade, a second explosion following, devastating the area. Everything according to plan.

Honoka had the clear advantage with Magnetic Repel in play. Or so she had thought. Rouge was proving to be a surprisingly difficult enemy, able to launch projectiles of concentrated heat, setting even the snow covered trees wide ablaze. "Meltdown!" Shooting another projectile at White, Rin realized that she could not keep up shooting these without the special rules aiding her.

Seeing and hearing the two violent explosions in the distance, Honoka dropped down between the trees, still in sight of Rouge, preparing her counter attack. "Grand Whitelight..."

Rin wouldn't give her time to pull out a big attack. She couldn't underestimate White, not with Lethal Risk and Master in place. A single hit could be the end of her. Beat seemed to have survived the first energy attack but that was no indication she would be as lucky. Extending her fire claws to their maximum range and activating her Hell ability, Rin quickly charged the claws with as much energy as time permitted. "Flaming Cross Slash!" Slashing the air in front of her, the claws vanished and turned into corporal fire blades, rapidly approaching White, who was still charging her attack.

Rin couldn't tell for sure if the attack hit as the snow on the ground turned into vapor, obscuring anything that happened. A second later, a massive explosion ruptured the ground, breaking several trees. "Retaliation? I hit her. Hah, take that!" Rin was so euphoric that she didn't notice the approaching danger from behind.

"Grand Whitelight Assault!" Honoka was high in the end above Rouge, almost invisible to the naked eye, the dark and the snow masking her presence yet again. The energy she focused bursting into fifteen different beams, every single one erratically changed vectors every second, leaving Rin completely unable to defend.

"Beat Heaven!" Spawning innumerable blue notes, the white beams lost force with every note they destroyed in their way. Ellen had jumped into the open space between White and Rouge, protecting her team leader from getting knocked out.

"Thanks, Beat-" Rin felt something protrude from her chest. Looking down, blood was gushing out of a wide open wound that a icy blade left. Turning her head around, she saw Beauty, who had impaled her with one of her weapons. Even with double her usual resistance, it was too much. Judging by the torn costume Beauty was wearing, she had taken the full force of her Fire Slash earlier to get enough damage for equivalent exchange. Losing consciousness quickly, Beauty pulled the blade out of her body and let her drop to the ground. "Arms of a Legion!" Reika had been right in her assumption that the Master was completely restored from knockout. Despite losing all her energy in retaliation, she had recovered completely due to the one-time only effect of Master.

Ellen found herself surrounded, in mid-air, by dozens of swords, daggers, spears and weapons she didn't know. "Execution!" Beauty's command came almost simultaneously with White retreating and heading for the ground, no doubt going after Rouge, ready to blast her away the second she recovered. Ellen had no way to prevent that. The weapons didn't impale but cut her. Losing blood rapidly from the equally rapidly increasing number of wounds, Ellen couldn't do anything. She had walked right into a trap.

The explosion in the sky was the signal for Honoka to start the last phase of the plan. Waiting on the ground for Beauty, she grit her teeth. The plan was solid and well thought out, she could not argue with that. Particularly Reika's ability to successfully deduce the enemy team composition based on Rose's information on the exchange and their existing roster had been an enormous asset. But it was still a rather brutal plan.

Reika landed right next to Honoka and the unconscious Rouge, who was about to rise once more. There was a delay of about fifteen seconds between being knocked out fully and reviving. White had counted the seconds and deployed accordingly many beams with her assault. Reika took position and nodded. There were only a few more seconds. Transforming the glaive into a sword, Reika slashed Honoka, causing a large wound all the way from her shoulder to her waist.

Spitting up blood, Honoka could feel that she was going to be knocked out within seconds. There was a brief delay between knockout and the retaliation effect kicking in and that was their winning strategy. Honoka alone could not suffer enough damage for equivalent exchange to beat down Rouge. And her beating up Beauty was too risky. A slight miscalculation in her energy output and she would lose the battle.

Grabbing Honoka by her right arm, Reika waited for her vision to go blank. At the same time as Honoka's consciousness faded, Rin regained hers, trying to pull herself up. The second she started to move, something hit her back and forced her down into the snow again.

Reika had no time to get away far enough and instead deployed a different type of arms, an enormous two-handed kite shield that was almost twice her own size, capable of withstanding powerful plastic explosive.

But even she couldn't have imagined how much energy Honoka had. The explosion did not just blow away the snow but the ground as well, creating a several meter deep crater, as if someone had detonated a bomb designed to demolish entire buildings.

The dust did not even get a chance to cover her sight. Teleported back into her room, Reika knew that they had won. It was absurd to think that anyone could withstand an explosion like that at point blank with no defense whatsoever. She felt sore and exhausted despite how quick the battle had ended. But she felt satisfied. Cures were not exempt to her strategies, she was sure of that now.

=== Dissonance ===

Sounds inside her head, her vision blurred as if her eyes were stained glass, her body numb as if she was drugged, she could feel her limbs move all on their own. Two... things stood in front of her. Were they people?

"Ellen, amazing!" "Ellen, that's wonderful!" No matter how dizzy, injured, hurt or numb she was, she'd recognize those voices everywhere. Love, Setsuna. They had come to help her. But as she tried to open her mouth to thank them, the words that left her were completely different. Mystics words, enchanted with magic.

"Now, finish them, Seiren. Finish those pesky Cures." Ellen's mind was racing. The voice of Mephisto, giving her orders she would never obey. But her mind and body were no longer her own. Her vision slowly cleared and what she saw felt like a nail being hammered into her heart. Peach and Passion, bleeding from eyes, nose, mouth and ears, happily dancing to her tune, to her song. But she did not recognize that hymn. "Put your all into your concert, the last one the world will ever hear!"

And Ellen turned, dancing over the cold snow at her feet, her arms and legs covered in injuries and open, gaffing wounds. There was no doubt as to why she could no longer move her body. Because it was not hers. She was merely a soul, trapped inside a corpse, unable to leave, forced to witness what grotesque acts her body would commit, listening to the tune of a master that had long since supposedly been freed from darkness.

And what she saw behind her caused the mind that was trapped to go into shock. A carpet of bones and corpses, clothes she recognized as all those Cures she had befriended, their bodies long rotted away. And now she realized. The coldness of the ground was not snow. It was the lack of warmth that her body no longer had. Cursed to sing and murder, not even allowed to die. "Aren't you happy?! The sacrifice of millions have made those you hold dear the most into another undead puppet, forever listening to your eternal dance!" Mephisto's voice echoed in her ears, repeating itself endlessly, just like her song.

The white ground she had thought snow was nothing but the finely ground remains of what had once been the population of the dead land she stood in. Then now she realized where she was. The ruins of what had to be major land. A hymn eternal in duration and deadly in effect, played and sung by a corpse whose only wish was to preserve the two she loved, and yet they would suffer for all eternity as she continued to dance.

=== Dissonance ===

"We won. Almost everything went exactly as I planned." Reika summoned her bag and took out three coins, each with a ten in the corner. "Here, Lemonade." Throwing the coins to Lemonade, that had been the yellow Cure's price for taking the degrading effect of Lethal Risk, enabling the grander scheme to work.

Urara immediately turned one of the coins into a bottle of high quality whiskey and a small glass. Sitting down with an unhappy expression, she opened the bottle and had a drink, first order of business. "I don't like to admit it but it sure did go the way you said. And that with the bits and pieces of info you got from me and Melody earlier."

Honoka was there as well, together with Komachi and Inori. "Let's get to the issue of Dream and Blossom."

Taking a second drink, Urara exhaled deeply, feeling just a bit better after getting bombed by Rhythm of all people."Is there anything we can do to begin with? Not to step on anyone's toes but we don't know who or what attacked them if they were really attacked to begin with. What are we gonna do, ask everyone for an alibi? That will just turn into a witch hunt."

Komachi sat down next to Urara and smiled. "Feels odd that you are the voice of reason." Looking at Honoka, Komachi had to agree with her friend. "But she's right. Suspecting each other won't get us anywhere. If anything, it'll make matters worse."

Urara turned around, the bottle left on the table but the glass in hand. "But doing nothing and just wait is no solution, too." Looking to White and Beauty, she expected them to have some kind of idea.

"Dream was alone when she fell or was pushed. Blossom was also alone based on what people told me. Unless someone is lying about their whereabouts, they were both alone." Assuming that Honoka had gotten to the same conclusion, Reika let her finish what she was trying to say.

Giving an appreciative nod to Reika, Honoka continued where the blue Cure had left off. "Move in groups of minimum two at all times. If the attacks stop then we either scared off whatever is lurking out there or it is really one of us. We should wait until we have concrete proof for either of those things." Looking to her side, Rose was starting to put dishes on the table. "What is for dinner today?"

Delighted, Komachi's face lit up. "Pancakes. I asked her earlier if she has ever done them and she said she wouldn't mind making them." Pancakes counted among her favorite foods. "I'll go help Kurumi."

Honoka couldn't help but laugh. "At least someone is happy." Turning to Reika, Honoka still had business to attend to. "I'm going to the dome and hope that someone goes and gets Nagisa to show her face. I also want to know who ended up in exile. They'll get out at midnight so in a bit more than six hours from now." A lot faster than before, when it had been a full day.

Lifted her glass, Urara didn't even bother to face her. "Knock yourself out." And she was going to do just that to herself, emptying her fourth glass by now. She was already feeling a bit drunk. "This expensive stuff really hits the spot."

=== Dissonance ===

The mood on the other team wasn't quite as light. Nobody could really blame them for losing against the combined forces of Reika, Urara and Honoka. That Beat had ended up as the lowest scoring member despite a basically fifty percent bonus across the team had been pretty ill received by Passion, who wasn't able to work up much of an appetite because of that.

Rubbing the spot where she had been impaled, Rin was still complaining, even now, at dinner. "It still hurts and my skin is all irritated there. Beauty is scary as hell." Sitting right across March, Rin didn't care in the slightest that they were partners.

"It's best to never underestimate Reika in a fight. Isn't that so, Yayoi?" Giving the yellow Cure next to her a knowing look, Yayoi dropped her fork, with spaghetti on them, and started to break out in cold sweat. "She asked Reika on a sparring session once. She couldn't sit or lay down without feeling the countless bruises all over her body."

Yayoi sunk into her chair. "Reika takes fighting way too seriously!"

Rin clicked her tongue. "No kidding. She stabbed Kanade and then she stabbed me. Both instant knockouts. What kind of mind thinks up a plan like that?" Annihilating her second plate, Rin leaned back, stuffed to the brim and still feeling unsatisfied. "First I draw with Sunny and then I get my ass handed to me bad by Beauty."

Kanade was a little depressed she had been the first one to go out. "I didn't notice her until she had me. I'm sorry, Rin." Just playing with a few noddles on her fork, Kanade glanced at the red Cure she thought of as her partner now.

"Don't be silly. She faked White getting blown up and let herself get knocked out just to stab me." Petting Kanade's head, Rin felt a bit better. "Eat up or you'll never grow."

Kanade wouldn't take that. "Mine are bigger than yours." The petting got a lot harder and wilder when Rin's expression turned to a rather annoyed one.

"I can't tell if you two get along or not." Yayoi had finished eating and was just playing with her spoon now.

Rin left the white Cure alone and sunk back into her chair, feeling lazy and sleepy, now that her stomach was full. "We do, she just got a really bad habit of being annoying." Grinning at Kanade's pouting expression, Rin nodded Kanade's dish.

Picking up where she had left off, Kanade murmured a few words "Yeah, yeah... I'm eating already." and continued to eat until she was full.

"Excuse me." The red Cure that had sat right next to Nao, Passion, had left her food almost untouched and left the table on her own.

There was something about her that worried Nao. "Is she not feeling well? She didn't look sick to me."

"Her partner, Beat, is in exile. I don't know why she ended up scoring the lowest but... you're partners with Beauty, right? Imagine if you were on the same team and she got stuck there." Rin wasn't usually one to bother with things like that but she felt like she should explain since she had been the captain of the team Beat belonged to.

Looking after the red Cure, Nao wanted to cheer her up somehow but didn't know how.

=== Dissonance ===

She shouldn't have eaten so much. Waking up in the middle of the night and having to go to the bathroom was not exactly her idea of a good night's rest. Leaving the bathroom, Komachi felt a lot better. Seeing the light of what was most likely a candle burning at the end of the hallway, her being on the second floor, Komachi went to investigate.

Just as she had reached the stairs the candle had moved down to the first floor. Following it, she had a really bad feeling about it. Was that whoever had attacked the others? The lights were dimmed so far that she could barely see in front of her. Calling out would give her away and as long as there was doubt that someone on the team was responsible for the attacks, she had to find out who was creeping around that late at night.

Seeing the light pass the gate to the dinning hall, she figured that it was just someone going for a late night snack and almost turned around. Taking a few steps forward, Komachi lost sight of the light source. There was no light coming from any of the three directions. It was just complete darkness all around.

Where had it gone? Would someone really put out the light to possibly fall over any of the chairs or the table? And going into the labyrinth or dome that late at night? She couldn't think of anyone that would do that.

Turning around and about to go back to her own room, Komachi felt petrified. There was... something... indescribable dangerous right behind her, about to grab her, about to... about to...

The cold sweat and the fear instilled by whatever was right behind her was beyond anything she had ever experienced. That was no mere fear of being hurt or killed. Something was attacking her mind directly, scaring her enough to prevent her from turning around. A warm breath was hitting the back of her head and she could feel that there was something right behind her, close enough to feel their body warmth in the cold of the corridor. Unable to move, Komachi slowly opened her mouth, trying to scream.

But before she could do so, the paralysis broke. And she fell out of bed. "A... dream?" Putting it aside as nightmare would've been easy if not for how realistic it had been. She still had goosebumps and felt cold. Something was out there. And it was scaring her badly. "Karen..."

=== End of Event XXIII ===