Hello Fanfiction readers! I, Ashbel Longhart, have finally returned after so long! Allow me to first apologize for being away for so long but my job and other things have taken up a large portion of my time so I barely have time to write. But don't worry because I will be sticking around for a lot longer now. Before I explain what I mean, cue the disclaimer!

(Disclaimer: I do not own Kamen Rider Kuuga or Futari wa Pretty Cure. They both belong to their respective owners. I just own this story and my OC's.)

Now then, as some may know or if they look at the publication date for this story, I made this two years ago. TWO YEARS! And I am now just nearing the halfway mark for this series. Once I realized that, I knew I need to step up my game. So, I've decided to put a lot more attention to this story until I either make it to the halfway mark of the series, or just finish this story entirely so I can move onto the next series because remember, I've got multiple crossover ideas for this series and I really want to write about them. But first, I've got to get this story off the ground and into the sky.

So without further ado, let's get on with the story. Chou Henshin!

Ride 17: Heart-Throbbing Bonds! Midterm Tests are a Trial of Love and Friendship!

(One Year Ago)

"...huff...huff...huff..."

The sky was a bright orange, showing that it was now evening as the sun was beginning to set over the horizon.

"...huff...huff...huff..."

Focusing our attention away from the sun and down an alleyway, we see Dai along with Shugo and the rest of the soccer club all on the ground, their uniforms a mess and their faces bruised, some worse than others.

"You...are...crazy..." Shugo huffed as he looked up at Dai who was laying right above him.

"Our friend...needed help..." Dai huffed as he licked some blood off his lips. A thug had gotten a really good hit in when he wasn't looking.

"Thanks...by the way..." One of their friends and fellow soccer club member, Yuji, said as he waved a hand up in thanks. He didn't expect to run into some thugs trying to rob him on his way home and he certainly didn't expect Dai to suddenly jump in, dragging the others of the soccer club along with him.

"We could've...just called...a policeman..." Kimata huffed out, one of the guys looking more bruised than others. They got rid of the guys messing with them but they had not come out unscathed.

"Wouldn't have...made it." Dai said as he pushed himself up, groaning while doing so. He was never this tired in a fight before which showed just how hectic things got. "I don't regret what I did though. I helped a friend and that's all that matters."

"You would really go this far...for a friend?" Another guy, Kotaro, asked as he and the others were starting to recover a little from how more clearly they're speaking.

"Of course." Dai answered immediately as he flashed everyone here his signature go-lucky smile. "Friends always help out one another, right?"

Whether it was because of Dai's smile or not, the boys all started smiling as well. Then, one by one, they all started laughing. They didn't know why they were laughing, but it was a laugh shared amongst friends.

And it was on that day that people learned a bit more about the boy known as Ichi Dai. Such as when there was trouble, he would be there.

(Now)

From the depths of the Dark Zone, the groans of the Dark King echoed throughout the literal dark realm.

"The great, Dark Power will swallow everything, consume everything. That power...it has started to devour my body as well." Thunder rained from the sky as the literal dark ruler continued speaking, knowing his subordinates were listening to him right now.

"In order for us to survive, we must become complete. The power of creation...The seven Prism Stones...Bring them this instant."

Even if they were no where near him right now, the remaining Dark Generals all heard their leader's echoing voice.

"The Dark King's body is being consumed." Ilkubo said to his fellow Dark Generals. "Our fates are linked to his. No matter what, we have to satisfy his demands."

"As someone born from the darkness, I already know." Poisony said, understanding full well what Ilkubo was saying. "But things often happen that I don't understand." At that did the woman glance over to her little brother. She instantly noticed that in the last battle, her brother had wavered at some point.

"Kiriya, just how much longer do you plan on playing around over there?" Poisony asked but Kiriya didn't respond, instead looking down at the bandage wrapped around his finger, the same one Honoka had used back on the farm.

And of course, with the bandage came the memories of what happened on said farm, including the talk he had with a certain senior of his.

(Insert STRIKE BACK by BACK-ON)

(Instrumental) The song starts as the camera rises up to show the legs of Kuuga before we get a sudden screen shot of Cure Black and Cure White before go back to Kuuga. Just as the camera is at the Arcle, we get a sudden shot of Mepple and Mipple before the camera gets to his chest. We then get another sudden shot of The PreCure cards surrounding Gouram before we go back to Kuuga whose back was facing the camera. He then suddenly turns around and punches the screen, cracking it as the title appears.

(Kidou sura kaerarenai kurai no kakuritsu da to shite mo) We now see Nagisa playing lacrosse with her team, catching a ball as Mepple is seen sleeping from Nagisa's bag.

(IPAASENTO demo areba mochiron teikou desho?) We then see Honoka with the members of the science club, doing an experiment that ended in an explosion as Mipple just giggles at the scene.

(Shosen, "unmei" to nagetsukerareta tte, No I won't!) We go to the city where police are examining a dead body. Ryō looks at the body before he walks away and gets out his phone, calling Dai.

(Hikkuri kaeshite, Because datte kimi to mirai wo miretara saikou janai?) Dai, riding on the TryChaser 2000, gets the call from his radio and speeds up, passing both Nagisa and Honoka as he races to meet up with Ryō.

(Bring it on! 'Cuz I'm just gonna grow up in the battle HEY! buchinuku donten!) Suddenly, the sky turns dark before the Dark King and his subordinates appears as well as an army of Zakenna appeared. Appearing with him was a shadow figure of N-Daguva-Zeba along with an army of Grongi.

(Still burning my fire ten wo kirsaku raimei I gotta kakikesu Nightmare tada mirai ga mitakute!) Nagisa and Honoka step in fear before Dai suddenly appeared behind them and gave them his signature smile and a thumbs up.

(Kako, mirai, soshite ikiteru ima, I ain't scared of my past and now for takusareta asu) Seeing his smile seemed to steel the girl's resolve as they took out the Queen PreCure and Dai summoned the Arcle belt.

(Screaming out for my pride!) A light then suddenly appears and appearing from it was Kamen Rider Kuuga along with Cure Black and Cure White, ready for battle.

(Namida mitakunai kara, sakebi tsudzukeru yo! Zutto...) Cure Black and Cure White engage a battle with some Zakenna before taking on Pisard, IIkubo, Poisony, Kiriya, and Gekidrago.

(I'm never falling down! oi kaze wo se ni fukitobasu Destiny!) Both sides trade blows for a bit before both girls held hands and fired their signature Marble Screw.

(Kono senaka ni aru, egao mamoritai kara! Zutto...) We see Kuuga kicking way a few Grongi, bashes them with the Dragon Rod while in his Dragon form, shoots a flying Grongi with his Pegasus Bowgun in his Pegasus form, slash a few more Grongi with his Titan Sword in his Titan form.

(I gotta blast off your pain for you and me! kanashimi nante Rest in peace!) Dai and the girls meet regroup as they face both the Dark King and N-Daguva-Zeba. Dai charges up a Mighty Kick before he jumps.

(Nando demo...) The girl then threw another Marble Screw as Dai kicks towards the two beings of darkness with the Marble Screw following close behind him before a light overtakes everything and we see a quick look at the blue sky before the song ends.

(Verone Academy)

It was a regular morning as clouds littered the sky above and the sun beamed down on students heading to school. One of those students walking to school right was one Misumi Nagisa, having decided to walk to school instead of going with Dai on his Trychaser. The reason being...reasons. It's totally not because of what happened on the farm yesterday. Totally wasn't.

"I heard, I heard, I heard~!" The familiar voice of one of Nagisa's friends, Shiho, got Nagisa's attention as she turned and saw said girl along with Rina run up from behind and stood in front of her.

"Heard what?" Nagisa asked.

"You guys went with Kiriya-kun to help out on a farm!" Shiho said.

"Yeah. I was asked to go." Nagisa said nonchalantly. It's not like she wanted to remember what happened on the farm, more specifically what happened at the end. That totally wasn't it.

'It was a rare chance to be alone together with Fujipi-senpai.' Nagisa thought, delving into her habit of recalling past events. 'But I got really nervous and couldn't say what I wanted to. I couldn't even use the Prism Love Checker with him.'

Thinking about the so-called Prism Love Checker made her think back to what happened with Dai and she felt anger rise in her. She didn't know why she felt angry but to try and distract herself from the feeling, she went back to recalling more of the events that happened yesterday.

'As usual, a Zakenna showed up along with a Grongi. We defeated them but Dai-kun got real messed up this time. The Grongi this time was exceptionally strong and Dai-kun said that it was from the High-tier Go Group which explains why it was so strong.'

'The Go Group, huh...' Nagisa thought in worry. From what she heard and knows so far from Dai, Grongi from the Go Group were exceptionally strong from the way Dai made them out to be. When one showed up on the farm, Dai speculated that more Grongi from the Go Group were heading towards the city to join up with the others and participate in the Gegeru going on right now.

Nagisa couldn't help but sigh, worried for the future before focusing back on her friends and wiping the worry from her. Her friends were quite observant when they wanted to be and she didn't want to worry them with her worries.

"How nice," Rina commented. "If people knew about your time alone with Kiriya-kun, everyone would be jealous."

"They sure would!" Shiho said, agreeing with Rina. "There are a tone of Kiriya-fans! And let's not get started on the Dai-fans!"

"That's right, Dai-kun was with you too, right?" Rina asked.

"That's right." Nagisa nodded while also remembering that her literal out-of-this-world friend had fans.

"But still, it's depressing." Rina said as she and Shiho sighed depressingly.

"It sure is."

"What is?" Nagisa asked, wondering why her friends were so depressed about.

"Starting tomorrow we have exams!" Both girls cried out.

'Oh yeah, that's right. Exams start tomorrow.' Nagisa said, remembering that Dai had told her that last night before going to bed.

"Right now..." Nagisa began as her expression turned serious. "I don't want to think about it!"

Nagisa also made a mental note to ask Dai for help with studying. No matter how angry she was with him right now, her grades were only good as they were thanks to the Rider's help.

(Later)

"Majide(Really)!?" Both Shiho and Rina both exclaimed loudly as they stared at Seiko, a friend of theirs.

"For really, really real!?" Shiho excitedly asked the dark chocolate brown haired girl who was blushing up a storm after what she just told them.

"Yes. I've been really interested in Kiriya-kun for a while now." Seiko explained as she looked up in a daze at the thought of her crush. "I've noticed my eyes would wonder towards him every time I see him. That's called being in love, right?"

"Yes it is! That must be it." Rina said assuredly.

Off to the side, while the other girls were talking, Nagisa stared out the window and thought to herself, 'Being interested in someone...'

Then, in her mind, the face of Shugo appeared and soon, Nagisa was the one blushing.

"No, no way, I'm not..." Trying to deny the warm feelings inside of her, Nagisa started banging her head against the window and only stopped when she noticed her friends giving her weird looks.

"Anyway," Rina began while pretending she didn't just see her friend bang her head against the window. "There's only one thing to do. You Seiko have to go and confess your feelings."

"C-Confess my feelings?"

"That's right!" Rina said. "I won't lie, Kiriya-kun was totally my type, but I'll give up on him as a service to you, Seiko."

"Kiriya doesn't belong to you, you know..." Shiho commented.

"Eh? B-But, I've never even talked to him before." Seiko said.

"It'll be fine, you just have to be more confident." Rina said assuredly. "After all, you're quite cute, Seiko."

"And nice." Shiho added, trying to get the girl to be more confident.

"And your grades are way better than mine!" Nagisa threw in her own penny.

"I'm not really..." Seiko felt her blush growing bigger as she didn't know how to take in these compliments thrown her way.

"Nagisa, if your grades were better, you'd be more popular with the boys." Shiho commented to her friend at what she just said.

"Gh!" Nagisa nearly fell over when she couldn't deny that fact so she quickly picked herself up and said, "Okay then! I'll do my best on the test! Nobody will happen if you don't even try!"

"It's nothing will happen!" Both Rina and Shiho corrected Nagisa on her mistake.

Then, from the corner of her eye, Rina noticed a passing by Honoka and quickly went over to her.

"Hey, Yukishiro-san, did you hear?"

"Hear what?" Honoka asked, wonder why she was stopped.

"Seiko is facing the biggest decision of her life!"

"Decision? About what?" Honoka asked before she blinked in confusion. What Rina said sounded serious she she decided to listen.

"About how to confess her love!" Shiho said, jumping into the conversation.

Now that got Honoka excited. "That's wonderful!"

"But I don't think I can confess..." Seiko said, still unsure.

"That's not good, Seiko." Rina said. "Confidence! You gotta have more confidence!"

"That's right." Shiho said before she turned to Honoka. "Hey, Yukishiro-san, give her some advice."

"Eh? Um..." Now that caught Honoka off guard. How was she supposed to give advise if even she's never confessed to a boy she likes?

But of course, being the kind girl that she was, Honoka tried her best and spoke.

"I also think conveying your feelings to your partner is very important." Honoka said as she walked up to Seiko as to get her full attention. "I think it's great that you even have such a person."

"Really?" Seiko asked and Honoka simply nodded.

"That's Yukishiro-san for you, pretty good." Rina commented.

"It'll be fine, we'll all support you." Shiho said, reassuring her friend.

"That's right, go for it, Seiko!" Nagisa added in with the most enthusiasm. "And if things don't go well, I'll be there for-!"

"Don't jinx her!" Both Rina and Shiho stopped Nagisa by covering her mouth with their hands before said mouth said anything that would be bad. Meanwhile, Seiko and Honoka just laughed at the trio's antics.

(Soccer Field)

As the hours flew by, it was time for school to come to an end. But just because classes were done for the day, doesn't mean the students left the campus grounds. Out in the soccer field, the soccer club was out with most of them playing a game right now while others sat on the sides watching.

One player managed to get the ball and was about to kick only to almost lose his balance when another player from the other team slid and kicked the ball away. Said ball rolled over to Shugo, dressed in a tracksuit, who stopped the ball with his foot and raised his hand to stop the game.

"Sub!" Shugou said as some players switched out with others.

"Kiriya, get out there." Shugou said the boy who had been standing right next to him.

"Hai(Right)." Kiriya said as a player came over to switch over.

"Good luck out there." The player said as he raised his hand for a friend clap only for Kiriya to just ran past him, ignoring him completely which angered the boy. "What's with him?"

Shugo made no comment as he decided to just watch how things play out.

At the blow of a whistle, the practice game continued with the new players picking up where the last players left off. With Kiriya, he was hot on one player trail as said player currently had the ball and was making his way to the goal as fast as he could.

'All I need to do is get the ball and score.' Kiriya thought, planning on how to get the ball. A plan came to him quick as he went and sped up before dropping down and sliding right behind the player he had been chasing. Coming from right behind, Kiriya got the ball but in the process, he knocked over the player, giving him a nasty fall to his back.

"Are you okay!?" One of the player's teammates asked in concern as a whistle was blown, but they fell to deaf ears as Kiriya continued to kick the ball towards the goal.

'Heh, easy as pie.' Kiriya thought. Or rather, so he thought.

Just as the ball was about to reach the net, a pair of hands went and caught the ball, surprising Kiriya only to see who had caught said ball.

It was Dai, and right now, he did not look very pleased.

Kiriya found himself frozen when he stared at Dai's frowning face, showing that the boy was upset, if not mad. Dai went over to Kiriya and looked down at him for a good ten seconds before he roughly pushed the ball into Kirya's hands, almost knocking the younger boy over as he continued to look up at Dai, wondering what he would do.

"Foul." Dai said, getting a confused look from Kiriya until Dai spoke more. "The whistle was blown. Didn't you hear it?"

Dai did not wait for an answer from Kiriya as he went over to where the others were, checking to see how the player Kiriya had knocked over in his slide was.

"You bastard!" The player Kiriya had switched out with called out to him as he angirly stomped over to him. "Sliding in from the back like that, you think that's fine!? You could have seriously hurt someone!"

"Hold it, just calm down." Shugou said as he got in-between them, stopping the player before he did something.

"But you saw what he did, Captain! Everyone did!"

"Kiriya just joined the club not too long ago. He can't tell the difference between aggressive play and foul play." Shugou explained, trying to reason with the guy. "I'll make sure to explain it to him later, okay?"

Shugou then turned his sights on Kiriya and like everyone else, he was not happy with him. "Of course, that doesn't justify what you did. It's dangerous to play like that, you know." A whistle was blown again and Shugou saw his friend, Kimata, telling everyone to continue practicing while a few guys helped the player Kiriya had knocked down.

Shugou turned back to Kiriya and said, "Just be careful from now on, okay? Everybody here is in the same club, it's like a family. You'll become good friends with everybody someday. Heck, it wouldn't surprise me if you and Dai were friends by tomorrow."

Kiriya raised an eyebrow at that, remembering the displeased look on Dai's face.

"I doubt that." Kiriya said.

"I don't know, the guy has a strange talent of drawing people towards him." Shugou said before he ran off, going to see how the injured player was doing. As Captain of the soccer club, he wanted to know how everyone on the team was, both physically and mentally.

Kiriya just watched as his senior ran off. Looking around, he spotted Dai switching places with another player, his frown from before seemingly non-existent and replaced by his usual smile.

(Later)

After the incident, time has passed by fairly quickly as by the time Kiriya had left the school, the sun was already setting as Kiriya walked alone to 'home', lost in his thoughts.

Everybody here is in the same club, it's like a family. You'll become good friends with everybody someday. Heck, it wouldn't surprise me if you and Dai were friends by tomorrow.

That last sentence got Kiriya thinking about Dai again and the frown that he had on his face. For reason's unknown, he clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"Hmph! As if that guy and I could become friends." To Kiriya, Dai was nothing more than an obstacle to overcome. A rather difficult one at that. He had underestimated the Rider's abilities the first day he enrolled into Verone. Since then, he's been using the best of his skills to win against Dai, but to this day, that has never happened yet. Kiriya may not have realized it, but he considered the Rider to be a rival.

"Kiriya-kun..." Hearing his name from an unfamiliar voice, Kiriya was brought out of his thoughts and looked up to see Seiko standing nervously in front of him.

"Who are you?" But that didn't mean Kiriya knew the girl's name, or who she was for that matter.

"I'm sorry, did I catch you by surprise?" Seiko asked before introducing herself. "I'm Taniguchi Seiko, from the second year Sakura Class. Please read this." Right after she said that did she take out a pink envelope with a heart sticker sealing it. It was obviously a love letter.

"Uh..." But that fact flew past Kiriya's head.

"You must get tons of letters, but, well..." Seiko nervously spoke as she tried to muster up the right words to say in front of her crush.

"What is this? I don't understand exactly." Kiriya said, not understanding what the girl was saying or trying to do.

"T-This is just my personal request, I know this must be a nuisance for you, but..." Seiko didn't know what else to say so she prompted to extend her letter out to him.

"What are you saying? Give me a break." Once again, the girl's intention flew over Kiriya's head as he decided to take his leave right then and there, walking past her and bumped into her a little, knocking Seiko's letter right out of her hands.

"Ah!" Seiko gasped as she watched her love letter fall to the ground. "Kiriya-kun!" She turned and called out to the boy but Kiriya continued to just walk away. Feeling a bit heart broken, Seiko went to reach down for her letter when someone else picked it up for her.

"Eh?" Looking up, she was met face to face with Dai. "D-Dai-senpai!?"

Giving the girl a small smile, he and Seiko stood up before he handed her her love letter.

"Oh, uh, t-thank you." Seiko nervously said as she grabbed the letter from her senior's hand, still shaken after what just happened with Kiriya.

"Are you okay?" Dai asked, concerned as he had seen what had just transpired.

"Y-Yes! I'm fine..." Seiko said that last part a bit unsurely and that did not escape Dai's notice, but he decided not to point it out. "Thank you, but I best be heading home."

Dai nodded understandingly as he watched the girl run off. He let out a sigh before he made his way back to his bike and just got on it when the radio beeped.

{Ichi Dai, this is Ryō. And Unidentified Lifeform has been spotted.}

"I'm on my way!" Dai responded back before putting on his helmet and driving off.

(Library)

The orange glow of the setting sun shined through the windows of the public library but that didn't bother the people inside one bit. All it really did was tell people that the day was almost at an end and the library would close once that happened.

Sitting at one table all alone was Honoka, one of many students who was studying for tomorrow's exams. She read what she needed and wrote down notes in ways that she remember and understand them. It looked like nothing could break her concentration until a single voice proved that theory wrong.

"Do you like studying that much?"

"Kiriya-kun?" Honoka looked up from her notes and was surprised to see the boy in front of the table she was at, leaning against the bookshelves.

"I see you here quite often doing nothing but studying." Kiriya said. "Is studying that much fun?"

"Yes, it is." Honoka said with a smile. "Learning something new is always exciting and fun, don't you think?"

"Oh?" Kiriya would admit that he never thought of it that way.

"Do you need something from me, Kiriya-kun?" Honoka asked as the boy had spoken up to get her attention.

"N-No." Kiriya said, confused as to why he bothered to get the girl's attention in the first place.

Nevertheless, the two stayed together at the library for another good hour before Honoka decided to pack things up and head home to continue her studies. Seeing as Kiriya was still around, the two decided to stop by the park and talk for a bit.

"I don't understand what everyone's thinking." Kiriya said, speaking his mind out. Just when he thought he had people figured out, there was something or someone that threw him off. Dai was one such example and another one was sitting right next to him.

"I don't know what to do." Kiriya said, hands behind his head as he leaned back against the bench with Honoka just listening to the boy. "Maybe not understanding people is something common?" Suddenly, Honoka giggled, getting Kiriya's immediate attention as he straightened up and looked at her.

"What's so funny?"

"Gomen(Sorry), it's just what you said reminded me of something Ichi-kun said once." Honoka explained.

"Again?" Kiriya said, wondering why his words were make Honoka think of the Rider.

"'No one can know someone else's true feelings, not even me.' That's what Ichi-kun said." Honoka said, thinking back to Dai's talk with the man who use to admired the Unidentified Lifeforms. "He also said, 'But it's still possible to get along.' Perhaps the reason why you're so confused with people is because you're not trying to make friends with people. For example, trying to express your own feelings. If you can convey your feelings, your partner will also open up their feelings to you. And once you understand each other's feelings, you can be kind to them, or you can get angry with them. That's something my Ojī-chan(Grandpa) told me once."

"Your grandpa?"

"Yes." A nostalgic, happy smile graced Honoka's lips. "My Ojī-chan told me that he had a lot of friends, but they didn't always see eye to eye on certain matters. They would sometimes get angry and argue with one another, but once they understood each other's feelings, they would make up with one another and work together. Person to person relationships are like that, you know?"

Kiriya just sat there staring at Honoka and processing her words. Seeing that Kiriya wasn't speaking, Honoka decided to ask about something else.

"By the way, how's your finger from the other day?"

"Eh? Oh, it's fine, thanks to this." Kiriya said, holding up his hand to show the bandaged finger.

"That's good to hear." Honoka said, smiling.

*Wee-Woo! Wee-Woo!*

Both Kiriya and Honoka jumped a little at the sound of sirens blaring before turning to see a few police cars speeding down the road.

"Another Unidentified Lifeform?" Kiriya said, having come to learn that speeding police cars were usually a sign of a Grongi attack somewhere. He found it surprising just how much the Grongi had the city on edge.

"I hope no one got hurt." Honoka said before adding in her thoughts, 'Or killed.' To her great displeasure, it was usually the latter thought that happened often whenever a Grongi attack occurs. It took a lot of self-restraint from her to keep sitting down instead of getting up and running to go help as there was no doubt in her mind that Dai was already on the case.

Honoka was not the only one thinking about Dai as he spoke up. "Hey, Yukishiro-senpai."

"Hm?"

"Besides Misumi-senpai, you're pretty close to Ichi-senpai, right?"

"Hm? Uh, yeah. Why do you ask?" Honoka asked, confused as to why Kiriya had suddenly brought up her male friend.

"A lot of people at school call him by his first name. But you're the only one who calls him by his last name."

"You call Ichi-kun by his last name too." Honoka said while also accidentally proving Kiriya's claim.

"It's not like I'm close enough with him to call him by his first name." Kiriya said. "Unlike me, you're close friends with him. So why the formal tone?"

"Well..." Honoka tapped her chin, thinking of how to best explain her formal tone with Dai.

"I'm not sure if it's happened to you yet, but there are times where Ichi-kun acts and speaks like someone much older than he is right now." Kiriya nodded, telling Honoka that the boy knew what she was talking about. "Well, during those times, it always feels like I'm talking with an adult and so I unconsciously speak formally to him. It's happened so much that calling Ichi-kun 'Ichi-kun' has just stuck with me."

"I see..." Kiriya said, finding that small tid bit of info interesting for some reason.

The two then continued to talk with one another before taking their leave. Exams start tomorrow so they needed to get as much sleep as possible.

(With Nagisa)

"Yosh(Alright)! It's time to pull an all-nighter!" Nagisa said, still dressed in her casual clothes as she was at her desks with books and notes spread out. She also wore a headband around her head for seemingly no apparent reason.

"Okay tomorrow's test, I'll study for you with one big cram-fest!" Nagisa said, determined to learn as much as possible tonight.

"Cramfest!" Mepple suddenly popped out. "Is it a tasty omelet-mepo?"

"Uh, wrong. It's memorizing everything in one night." Nagisa said as she went and picked him up.

"Oh? Everything, in one night." Mepple said slowly. "Nagisa...just give up and go play at Mepple's place-mepo!"

"Now is not the time for that." Nagisa said as she put Mepple down and went back to her studies. Even if Dai said trying to memorize everything in one night was impossible, she was gonna try anyways! Besides, it's not like he was here to help her. He was out hunting down the latest Grongi.

'He's been out for quite awhile.' Nagisa thought, worried for the Rider. It was not uncommon for cases involving Grongi to go on for a few days, but the longer the case, the more she got worried.

'Ugh, what's with me? I'm mad at him for one minute, and then I'm worried for him the next!' Nagisa thought, having the urge to scratch her head in frustration. Why were her emotions always so conflicted whenever it came to the Rider?

"I want to go, I want to go, I want to go-mepo...!" Oblivious to Nagisa's thoughts, Mepple rambled on and on until Nagisa finally couldn't take it.

"That's it!" Nagisa slammed down her pencil before digging into her card deck. "If you're gonna keep acting like that, I'll have him teach you a lesson!" She then found the card she was looking for, a card depicting some sort of tutor, before swiping across the scanner.

Mepple's ramblings soon ceased as a bubble appeared, showing Mepple sitting at a desk while the tutor was standing right in front of him.

"Mepple-sama! Do you understand! You cannot disturb other people's studies!"

"Don't scold me-mepo..." Mepple moaned as he looked like an elementary kid getting lectured in detention, which the comparison wasn't too far off.

"Above all, you're always doing foolish things. When you're eating, when you're sleeping, when you're being love-love with Mipple-sama!" Nagisa nodded in satisfaction as she went back to her studies while Mepple continued to be scolded.

"As the Hero of the Garden of Light, you must act more responsibly!"

"I-I know that already-mepo."

"Oh really now? Because you've lately always been love-dovey with Mipple-sama, anytime, anywhere! When you're sleeping, when you're awake, it's always with the love-love!"

Unfortunately for Nagisa, the lecturer was scolding Mepple so hard and loud that now it was distracting her from studying.

"I get it already-mepo..." Mepple groaned, sweating bullets.

"No, no you do not! First of all, the Garden of Light...!"

"Will you just shut up!" Nagisa exclaimed angirly, scaring both faeries as the bubble popped and Nagisa finally had some peace and quiet. "It's just one thing after another..."

(City)

One would not normally be able to see the glittering stars in the night sky due to the many lights of the city. But for Kiriya, that wasn't a problem as he fly over said city, just seemingly floating in the wind as he stared up at the night sky with the light of the full moon baring down on him.

"Can I help you with something, nee-san?" Kiriya asked as he wasn't alone. Not too far from him was his sister, Poisony, who looked like she was literally sitting on air.

"Is it that fun to be with these people? These humans?" Poisony asked as she stared down at her little brother. "Are you perhaps trying to become friends with them?"

"Of course not." Kiriya denied.

"Really?" Poisony asked but didn't go further as she spoke. "Well, it doesn't matter to me since you're school life will end tomorrow."

"What do you mean?" Kiriya asked as he had a sneaking suspicion as to what his sister was planning.

"You'd better look forward to it." Poisony said as she soon disappeared, leaving nothing but the sight of the full moon before his eyes. Kiriya continued to just stare at the moon, lost in thought at what his sister said. And soon, his thoughts wandered about until he was thinking about Honoka.

*boom!*

Unfortunately(?), said thoughts came to an end when an explosion sounded from below him, getting his attention as Kiriya spun around to look down at the city below, wondering where the explosion was and what caused it. It didn't take long for Kiriya to find the source and he wasn't surprised at what said source was.

Down below was Dai as Kuuga standing over the remains of whatever Grongi he just defeated.

"So he took down another one." Kiriya thought out loud as it was highly unlikely for someone to hear him all the way up here. "For all their boasting in being so powerful, those Grongi sure drop like flies."

Yet despite his word choice, Kiriya could not deny that the Grongi were strong. The fact that more and more Grongi kept getting killed was a testament to how strong Dai was. It didn't matter how strong the Grongi were. Even if a much more stronger Grongi would step up to replace the last one, Dai still found a way to take it down. Honestly, he was starting to see why the Dark King was so wary of the Kamen Rider.

"He has so much power, much more than those girls, and yet..."

To those around Dai, they would see nothing wrong with him. Yet as a being born from darkness, Kiriya could sense it. There was a dark power sleeping inside of Dai. It couldn't be seen and Kiriya almost missed it which shows just how well hidden this power was. But it was there, sleeping as if it were waiting for the chance to just wake up. Kiriya had never noticed it until today during soccer practice. It had been when Dai had given him that stare down. The power seem to spike up as if reacting to Dai's emotions.

He would never admit it out loud, but even as a being of darkness, whatever power that slept inside of Dai scared him. What scared him more was just how similar it was to Daguva.

(With Dai)

"I'm home...just kidding." Dai said to himself as he finally arrived back in his apartment home. He let out a yawn as he threw his backpack onto the floor next to his desk before going out onto the balcony to look out into the city. He did this every time he came back from battling a Grongi, as if to make sure there no more Grongi activity for today. Call it paranoia, but when you know more than anyone just what the Grongi clan were capable of, said paranoia was justified.

"Hm?" Looking to his right where Nagisa's room was, he saw that the light was still on despite it being 2 AM right now. Having known the girl for a year now, he knew that Nagisa was not one to stay up this late.

Curious, Dai climbed up the rails and jumped. Unlike before where he would barely grab a hold of the railing, this time he made a complete jump over to Nagisa's balcony despite the fact that such a feat would normally be impossible for a normal human.

Landing with no problem at all, Dai took a moment to look at himself. He was no idiot. Being the huge fan of Kamen Rider Kuuga that he is, he knew that the Arcle within him was changing him, just like Mizore had said all those days ago. And honestly, it bothered him quite a bit. Slowly, he was becoming something that was no longer human. But he told himself, like a mantra, that he was still him, that he was still Ichi Dai.

Finally collecting himself, Dai took out a spare key that would unlock Nagisa's balcony door and wasted no time using it. Stepping inside the room, he soon found out why the lights in Nagisa's room were still on.

"Ah, Senpai...thank you for the flowers..." There on her desk was Nagisa, laying her head on an open notebook as she muttered in her sleep. And right next to her was Mepple, in his real form trying to wake the girl up.

"Nagisa! Nagisa!" Mepple cried out the girl's name, but Nagisa was still sound asleep.

"No Mepple...While I'm at school, you promised you'd sleep." Nagisa muttered in her sleep again, causing Dai to laugh a little. Said laugh got the attention of the fairy.

"Ah! Dai! How did you get in here-mepo?"

"I had a key." Dai said, showing off said key.

Mepple blinked once before asking, "Why do you have a key to Nagisa's room-mepo?"

"Would you believe me if I said her mom gave it to me?" Dai said as he pocketed the key. "Don't know why she gave it to me in the first place."

"Uh huh..." Mepple didn't know what to think about that but decided to forgo said thoughts and asked Dai, "Can you help me wake Nagisa up-mepo?"

"Well, I was curious as to why the lights were still on. Might as well." Dai said with a shrug before going over to Nagisa and shook her. "Oi, Nagisa-chan, wakey wakey."

"D-Dai-kun...?" Nagisa muttered again in her sleep before her eyes shot open and she quickly got up as if she just had awoken from a surprise dream. "Ah! I fell asleep."

"You sure did." Dai said with another laugh, alerting Nagisa of his presence.

"Wha-!? Dai-kun!?" Nagisa cried out in surprise and for some reason blushed as she nearly fell out of her chair, but managed to catch herself. "W-What are you doing in my room?"

"I saw the lights still on and got curious." Dai explained. "It's 2 AM right now, in case you're wondering."

"What!?" Nagisa quickly grabbed her clock and looked at it in disbelief. "Arienai(I can't believe this)..."

"Were you studying for the exams tomorrow-wait, it's technically today now." Dai said, correcting himself.

"Y-Yeah..."

"Hoping to cram everything you need for the exams?"

"Yeah..." Nagisa lowered her head a little, having admit to Dai that she had not studied beforehand.

"There's still some time until morning-mepo." Mepple said, suggesting that Nagisa should study some more.

"Right." Nagisa got up...and proceeded to her bed. "Time to sleep."

"Mepo!?" Mepple face faulted at that. "What happened to the cram-fest-mepo?"

"It's totally impossible." Nagisa groaned as she face planted down onto her bed. "I'll just bet on Honoka and Dai-kun's test intuition."

"Nanda kore wa(What the heck)-mepo...?" Mepple said, unable to believe this girl.

"I told you cramming for a test the day before it was impossible." Dai said before he went and picked up Nagisa.

"Wah! What the-!?" Nagisa cried out in surprise and a bit of embarrassment as Dai picked her up before she was suddenly placed back down on her bed as Dai covered her up with her blanket.

"Try and get a good night sleep. If you're lucky, whatever you crammed will still be fresh in your mind later." Dai said as he went and untied the headband on Nagisa's head, completely oblivious to Nagisa's reddening face.

'What is this idiot doing!?' Nagisa exclaimed in her mind as Dai kept treating her like a kid. But unknown to her and even Dai himself, the Rider himself was quite tired himself and didn't realize that his actions were half-driven. Basically, he was half-conscious to what he was doing.

"Well, good night Nagisa-chan. Good luck on the exams later." Dai said his goodbye to the girl, letting out a yawn as he went out to her balcony, locked the door before jumping back over to his and proceeded to turn in for the night.

"...baka(idiot)." Nagisa muttered quietly as she covered half of her face with her blanket, trying to hide how red her face was right now and also trying to ignore the troll-like smirk Mepple was giving her.

(The Next Day, Verone Academy)

Dai let out a small yawn as he walked amongst his fellow boys to school. He had long ago parked his TryChaser and was heading to the school gates, as ready as he'll ever be for the exams today. In one hand he carried his school back and in the other, he had a cup of coffee he bought earlier when on his way to school. Nagisa had said that they didn't have time to buy coffee but he insisted and even bought one for her, albeit it was on the more surgery side. She was not ready for the more bitter stuff.

"Hm?" Just as he was taking a sip of his cup of joe, he noticed standing by the gates were both Shiho and Rina along with another girl.

"Shiho-chan? Rina-san?" Dai spoke up, getting their attention.

"Oh! Ohaiyo(Good morning), Dai-kun." Rina greeted the older boy.

"Ohaiyo." Dai greeted back before turning to the girl with them. "You're...Taniguchi Seiko-san, right?"

"Eh?" Seiko looked up in surprise. "You know me?"

"I like to know the names of everyone of Verone." Dai said before he set his school bag down and offered his hand for a handshake. "It's nice to meet you."

"Oh! Uh, kochira koso(likewise)." Seiko said as she shook his hand a bit nervously, but can you blame her. Despite having never met until now, Dai was quite well known around the school and seeing how friendly he was with her, she was starting to see why.

"So, what are you three doing here at the boy's division?" Dai asked as it was common facts that the boys and girls of Verone academy were separated into different buildings.

"Well, we were-Ah! He's here!" Shiho began until she stopped and notified Seiko.

Raising an eyebrow in confusion, Dai turned to where Shiho was looking and saw Kiriya amongst the many other boys walking by. It was then did Dai notice the letter in Seiko's hands and judging from the light pink color and the cute heart sticker on it to seal it, he took two and two together.

'Well, this just got interesting.' Dai thought as he finished the last of his coffee before following the girls as they took Kiriya to a private part of the school. From what he was able to gather, it seemed Seiko had tried to give her love letter to Kiriya only for said boy to just walk off without even accepting the letter.

"Kiriya-kun, please accept it." Shiho said as she and Rina spoke with Kiriya while Seiko and Dai stood to the side.

"It might have meant nothing to you, but it Seiko a lot of courage ." Rina said. "So please, everything would be fine if you take it."

"Th-That's enough..." Seiko spoke up, a noticeable blush adorning her face. "We're just bothering Kiriya-kun by doing this..."

"What are you saying?" Rina said, turning to the girl. "You cant give up now, not when you've already come this far."

"That's right." Shiho said. "You should at least tell him how you feel."

"Why are they making such a big deal out of this?" Kiriya meant to speak to himself but Dai overheard him and spoke.

"You may not get it, but this is a pretty big deal for most people." Dai said. "Personally, I don't think anybody needs a letter to tell someone how they feel. They should just come out and say it to the person face to face."

"You make a good point." Kiriya said, seeing the logic behind Dai's words.

"Remember, Yukishiro-san is also supporting you."

Kiriya let out a gasp as he turned back to the girls in surprise when he heard what Rina had just said and this did not go unnoticed by Dai.

"You should try being more straightforward." Shiho said. "You've got to try even if you fail!"

"I guess..." Seiko muttered, still uncertain.

"Yukishiro...that person...for this girl's sake..." For some reason, Kiriya flashed back to the moments he had with Honoka, to the talk they had yesterday to back when they worked on the field. Yet for some reason, when he thought about these moments he had with the girl, there was a twist in his chest and for reasons unknown to him, he felt angry.

"Kiriya-kun?" The way Kiriya was acting did not go unnoticed by Dai who looked at the boy in concern.

"What am I..."

"You two, I'm really grateful for what you're doing , but I think this is enough." Seiko said, oblivious to what was happening what Kiriya right now. "Kiriya-kun, I'm really sorry for bothering..."

*THOOM!*

Before Seiko could finish apologizing to Kiriya, she froze up. The reason for freezing so suddenly was because Kiriya's eyes had suddenly change, reverting back to how they looked when not in disguise. The sight of the cold, dark eyes froze Seiko on the spot and before anyone could blink, Kiriya was right behind her with her love letter in hand.

"What the?" Dai blinked in surprise at Kiriya's sudden speed. To others, in the blink of an eye, Kiriya had moved right behind Seiko yet to Dai, he was able to keep track yet he was still surprised at the boy's speed. No normal person should have that kind of speed.

"The girls' school midterm exams start in a few hours, right? You should hurry on back." Kiriya said as he turned back to the group. "I don't have any business with you. So just scram!"

At Kiriya's shout did Seiko finally unfreeze and quickly turned around only to see Kiriya hold up her love letter and rip it in two.

*GRAB!*

Or he would have, if not for the sudden intervention from Dai who was suddenly in front of Kiriya and grabbed his hands before he could rip the letter, surprising him and the girls at his sudden speed.

'I didn't even see him move!' Kiriya thought in surprise.

"Oi, Kiriya." Everyone jumped when Dai not only addressed Kiriya with no honorifics, but the tone he addressed him with was one of anger.

"What the heck do you think you're doing?" Dai asked, looking down at his junior with a stern gaze, making him look older to those around him.

Kiriya, to his credit, was surprised at Dai for just a second before his cold and angry gaze from before returned as he glared back at his senior.

"What does it look like, Senpai?" Kiriya asked as he went to rip the letter in his hands again, but was once again stopped by Dai who increased his grip on his hands causing Kiriya to wince.

"It looked like you were about to rip Taniguchi-san's love letter." Dai said, his gaze still stern. "Look, I don't know why you're suddenly so upset, but you need to calm down. It's fine if you don't accept Taniguchi-san's letter, but you don't have to go and rip it."

"If you're so concerned about this thing," Kiriya began as he finally managed to wrestle his hands out of Dai's grip. "Why don't you take it!?" And in one motion, Kiriya shoved the letter into Dai's chest...

*BAM!*

While also sending him flying back a little, making Dai gasp in both surprise and a bit of pain at the surprise palm strike and when his back collided against the brick wall behind him. The girls cried out in shock at the sudden act of violence while Dai shook off the hit and looked up only to see Kiriya walking away.

"Oi! Kiriya!" Dai called out to the boy to stop, but Kiriya did not, ignoring him as the boy headed back to school. Dai had the urge to click his teeth, but withheld the urge and stood back up properly.

"Dai-kun! Daijōbu(Are you okay)!?" Both Rina and Shiho both asked as they went over to him and looked at him with concern.

"I'm fine, I've taken worse hits." Dai assured both the girls before going over to Seiko who still looked shocked at what just happened. Holding up the letter Kiriya 'handed' to him, he presented it to the girl to give it back while apologizing.

"I'm sorry if what just happened scared you."

"Huh? N-No, it's okay." Seiko said as she took back her love letter only to look down at it before her hands started to shake. "But I guess...this counts as getting rejected." With tears forming in her eyes, Seiko took off running.

"Seiko!" Rina and Shiho called out to the girl running before they ran after her but not without the former saying, "Sorry, Dai-kun, but we gotta go. Seiko, wait!" And soon, Dai was alone.

Sighing, the Rider scratched his head in frustration before he looked on with determination. He didn't know what made Kiriya so upset, but one things for sure. After he was done with exams, he was going to have a talk with his junior.

(With Nagisa)

'This ain't bad, this Moonbucks coffee.' Nagisa thought as she drank her chocolate frappuccino which Dai had bought her earlier when he insisted that they should stop and get some coffee. Granted hers was on the more surgery side, but when she took a sip from Dai's choice of beverage, she was glad with her choice. Well, it wasn't actually her choice as Dai picked it for her, but she wasn't going to complain. Plus, she could practically feel herself waking up with each sip.

She can now see why her dad was able to get through the morning despite getting up early than the rest of the family sans her mom.

'I wonder if I'll be more mature if I can drink bitter coffee?' Nagisa thought to herself, but got rid of the thought. This wasn't the time to be thinking about coffee. She had exams to worry about. And speaking of exams...

"Honoka, ohayō(good morning)!" Nagisa greeted her friend once she saw her.

"Ohayō, Nagisa." Honoka greeted her friend back as she finished changing shoes and placed her outdoor shoes in her shoe locker. She was about to speak again when she stopped and stared at the frappuccino in Nagisa's hands. Noticing her friend's look, Nagisa explained.

"Dai-kun stopped by a coffee shop, said it would help me wake up." Nagisa explained. "On a side note, I now know why this Moonbucks coffee is so popular with people. This ain't half bad."

"Can you even drink coffee?" Honoka asked as she knew that there was a certain age restriction preventing kids from drinking coffee, but she's never looked far into it. Something new to research later.

"Dai-kun said it was okay." Nagisa said before offering some of her drink to Honoka. "Want some?"

"No thanks, I'm good. Maybe next time." Honoka said, declining the offer before changing topics. "So, ready for the exams?" At that did she get an over exaggerated groan from her friend. She couldn't help but giggle a little.

"I tried to cram everything last night, but I'm not sure I can pass." Nagisa said. "Please tell me you know what's going to be on the exam."

"Well..." Honoka began as she thought about what to say when the sounds of someone crying made her and Nagisa stop and turn.

Moving to see who was crying, the girls said Rina and Shiho trying to comfort a crying Seiko.

(Boy's Campus Building)

Honoka, wearing visitor slippers, walked down the halls of the boy's campus building with purpose as boys who saw her instinctively bcked away and made a path for her. In contrast, Nagisa followed Honoka nervously.

"Honoka..."

"Don't try to stop me, Nagisa."

"Look, I understand you're angry, but can't this wait until tests are over?" Nagisa said, trying to calm down her friend. In truth, she was more afraid of what Honoka might do once she made it to Kiriya's classroom than them being late for the exams.

Honoka didn't respond back as she and Nagisa finally arrived at their destination. Opening the sliding door, the boys of the room all turned before moving out of the way once they saw the look on Honoka's face.

Honoka walked in and looked around the classroom until she finally found the person she was looking door leaning against a window. And noticing the commotion around him, Kiriya turned to see an angry Honoka.

"Honoka-san." Kiriya addressed the girl, knowing exactly why she was here from the look on her face.

"How could you do that to her?" Honoka asked. "They may have been persistent, and maybe you were bothered by it, but trying to rip the letter she put her feelings into and hitting Ichi-kun is going too far! You'll never understand how to communicate with people if you keep like that! Think more about other people's feelings. You have to take into account of other people's hearts!"

"Now, now..." Nagisa decided to now step in before things got even more heated. "Let's all calm down and act more like grown-up's here."

"I'm not a grown-up!" Was Honoka's brilliant retort.

"Q-Quite right." Nagisa backed up a little in the face of her friend's anger.

"Is that girl more important than me?" Kiriya suddenly spoke up, getting the girl's attention. "You told me to think about other people's feelings, but look who's talking. You were supporting that girl, but you weren't thinking about how I felt."

"But Honoka didn't know Seiko was aiming for you, Kiriya-kun." Nagisa explained.

"Is that really an excuse?" Kiriya retorted, shutting Nagisa up. "This has caused me nothing, but trouble. If anyone needs to understand other people's feelings, it's you."

"I was just..." Honoka began, but Kiriya quickly interrupted her.

"Then do you know what I'm feeling? What are these emotions? What in the world are these feelings I'm having!? If they are real, what does it mean!?" Kiriya shouted, his voice filled with with anger, yet if one listened closely, there was also confusion mixed in it though it was very little and was completely overshadowed by Kirya's anger which he screamed out.

"You don't know a damn thing about me. Don't act so high and mighty!"

At Kiriya's piercing scream did did everyone in the room freeze. But the most effected out of everyone was Honoka who looked blown away.

She stood there, looking at Kiriya in shock as the boy turned as to not face her. A few moments later, Honoka processed Kiriya's words and she felt something inside her tighten as she came to a realization.

"I see...you're right. I don't know anything about you." With her bangs covered her eyes, Honoka bowed in apology to Kiriya who, with gritted teeth, still refused to look at her. "I'm sorry for saying those things to you. I'm sorry!"

"If you understand, then hurry up and leave!" Kiriya let out that last bite out.

Honoka flinched at said bite before doing as told and taking her leave as quickly as possible.

"Ah! Honoka!" Worried for her friend, Nagisa quickly followed after her.

Once the girls have finally left did Kiriya finally look up while ignoring the whispers going on around him. He was about to go back to just looking out the window, wasting time until exams finally start, only to stop when he saw someone new arriving at the door. And he was not too pleased to see him.

"Is there something I can help you with, Ichi-senpai?" Kiriya sarcastically asked.

No at all effected by Kiriya's sarcastic tone, Dai looked straight at Kiriya and said, "Com with me to the soccer field. We need to talk."

Kiriya scoffed at him. "Sorry, senpai, but in case you haven't been looking at the clock, tests are about to begin. Maybe after school we can talk."

"No." Dai said as he walked straight up to Kiriya and grabbed him by his blazer, surprising the boy. "We're going now."

"Wha-!? Hey!" Before Kiriya could react, he found himself dragged out of the classroom. And struggle as he might, he was unable to escape Dai's hold on him as he was dragged all the way outside.

(With the girls)

"Faster, faster! The test is starting!" Nagisa said as she dragged Honoka back to the girl's campus building. After what had just happened with Kiriya, Nagisa had to drag her friend when she saw that the girl wasn't even concerned about them being late. While she wanted to give Kiriya a piece of her mind, she saw Dai when she had ran out and decided to leave the situation with Kiriya up to him. The boy had a way with people.

"We made it!" Nagisa cried out in joy as she and Honoka neared their classroom. Skidding to a stop at the door, Nagisa grabbed the handle and slid the door open just as the school bell rang.

Both girls stepped inside the classroom...only their was no classroom, but a black void as both girls fell down screaming.

"What is going on!?" Nagisa cried out in a panic as she and Honoka fell down with no signs of stopping.

Then, an all too familiar laugh echoed around them.

"I've been waiting for you." Poisony's voice echoed all around them.

"I knew it, this is you're doing!" Nagisa cried out, having the faintest feeling that her and Honoka's current predicament was the woman's doing.

"Nagisa, do you have Mepple with you!?" Honoka called out over the rushing winds batting her face.

"Of course!" Nagisa said, taking out said fairy from her blazer pocket. After all the fights she and Honoka has been through, the girl's knew to always keep their respective fairy partners with them at all times.

"Then let's transform!" Honoka said, taking out Mipple.

"But of course!" Nagisa said as she and Honoka managed to get their respective Queen cards out and slash them across the scanner of their partners.

"Duel Aurora Wave!"

Despite free falling at high speeds, the girl's managed to grasp hands and when they did, the beautiful rainbow lights that surrounded them seem to light up the place of where ever they were at. Their free falling soon came to an end as like a shooting star, they crash landed as the rainbow lights that surrounded them dispersed, leaving in their place...

"Hikari no shisha, Cure Black!"

"Hikari no shisha, Cure White!"

"Futari wa PreCure!"

"Yami no chikara no shimobetachi yo…"

"…Tottoto ouchi ni kaerinasai!"

No sooner did the girl's finish their usual introduction did they noticed something.

"Huh?"

"Is this...?" The girl's blinked in confusion at what seemed like another pair of Pretty Cures staring right back at them. But upon closer look, it was actually...

"Mirrors?" Indeed, it was a line of mirrors before them as what was staring right back at them were their reflections.

"So nice of you girls to drop in. Now I shall finally claim to Prism Stones from you!" Poisony's voice echoed all around them again, only this time the voice felt louder behind them. Turning around, they saw Poisony coming in to attack. Quickly, Nagisa responded with a kick only to find out that she had kicked a mirror.

"Nani(What)?" Nagisa said in surprise as she pulled her foot back before Poisony's laugh started echoing around them again.

"This place shall be your grave!"

The flapping of a cape alerted Nagisa as she reacted and spun around, throwing another kick only for it to be a mirror again. As Nagisa stood there confused, Poisony appeared from behind her and delivered a devastating kick to her back, sending her flying.

"Black!" Honoka cried out in worry for her friend as she went to go catch her friend only for Poisont to suddenly appear from behind the flying Nagisa and rushed in to deliver a shoulder rush, hitting Honoka and sending her slamming against a mirror before the female Dark General spun around and kicked Nagisa again, sending her slamming into a mirror as well.

"I have more powers then just Zakenna, you know." Poisony said mockingly before her face morphed back into a serious one. "Now then, hand over the Prism Stones to me."

Nagisa and Honoka slowly got back up to their feet before they both took fighting stances.

"Like hell we will!"

"We'll never give you the Prism Stones!"

"Hmph! Then I guess I'll just have to take them from your cold, dead bodies!" Poisony said before the girls charged towards her.

(Soccer Field)

Kiriya found himself standing at a goalie net, his blazer off which left him with just his shirt and tie on. Across from him, about half a mile away, was Dai, also without his blazer as in front of him were a line of soccer balls.

"You're crazy." Kiriya said loudly over to the Rider. "Exams about to start any minute now and yet you dragged me all the way out here."

"No need to be so angry, there's always make-up exams." Dai said, seeming more calmer than before as he balanced a ball on his left foot.

"I thought you said we were going to talk?" Kiriya said, confused as to why his senior had dragged him all the way out to the field.

"We are." Dai said as he threw the ball he was balancing up before quickly slamming it down. "But I'm smart enough to know that you won't talk to me if I just ask nicely."

"Hmph. If you already know that much then why-?"

*KICK!*

*SLAM!*

"Gah!" Kiriya let out a cry of pain when a soccer ball slammed right into him, sending down on his back. Shaking his head to get rid of the dizziness from suddenly facing forward to facing the sky, the young Dark General placed a hand on his chest to ease the pain and got up to see Dai in a kicking position. Kiriya quickly put two and two together and deduced that Dai had kicked a soccer ball at him.

"So in that case, I just won't be nice to you." Dai said as if his simple answer was the one correct true answer.

"So you're just gonna beat me up with soccer balls? What does that have anything to do with talk-?"

*KICK!*

*SLAM!*

"Guh!" Before he could finish, Kiriya once again found himself flat on his back.

"Come on, Kiriya! You can do better than that." Dai called over.

Gritting his teeth in anger, Kiriya got back up before taking one of the balls Dai kicked over at him.

"Let's see how you like it!" Kiriya said, using some of his real strength to kick the ball.

*KICK!*

There was an audible slamming sound the second Kiriya's shoes impacted the ball before said ball was sent flying like a bullet. Yet to Kiriya's surprise, Dai jumped, spun in mid air, and kicked back the back Kiriya had sent.

*BOOM!*

There was an audible booming sound when Dai's leg connected with the ball and Kiriya could have sworn he saw the sound barrier breaking before the ball Dai kicked flew right past his head. There was a sound akin to thread snapping followed by something slamming against a wall. Slowing turning his head, Kiriya saw the ball Dai had kicked had punched straight through the net, leaving a hole, and through that hole was the ball, having crashed into the surrounding wall. In fact, the ball was still spinning as visible steam can be seen.

Kiriya looked back at Dai with a new look of fear, but it didn't last long as the sight of Dai's smile made Kiriya angry again for some reason. He didn't know why he was angry at the smile, but he had the strong urge to wipe it off.

"Now let's see if you can block this." Dai said said before kicking another ball into the air before he went and performed a bicycle kick, sending the ball flying towards him at high speeds. Refusing to back down, Kiriya stood his ground and fought back to the best of his abilities. This would continue on, with Dai kicking balls at Kiriya who tried to catch them only to be constantly thrown back whenever he tried which would then be followed by a string of curses. By the time Dai used up all the balls he brought out, Kiriya was down on the ground, battered and bruised as specs of dirt stuck to his sweaty form.

So tired and trying to catch his breath, Kiriya didn't notice Dai walking over to him until his shadow was over him.

"Yo." Dai greeted friendly as he looked down at Kiriya. "How do you feel?"

"How do I feel? How do I feel!?" This person, who dragged him all the way to the soccer field and then proceeds to pommel him with a barrage of soccer balls coming at him at high speeds, has the nerve to ask how does he feel!?

"I feel..."Kiriya's expression was one of pure rage...before it slowly changed to one of calmness. "I feel like I need to go to the nurse's office."

"Obviously." Dai said, laughing a little as he offered a helping hand to Kiriya who took it. "But at least you're not angry anymore, right?"

As Kiriya sat up, he blinked at Dai's words before he realized that all the anger and confusion he had been feeling inside of him had now calm down, leaving Kiriya was a sense of calmness.

"What did you do?" Kiriya asked, unable to believe that his previous emotions from earlier had calm down.

"It's called venting." Dai said. "The reason I brought you out here was so you could vent all your frustration out. Do you feel better now?"

Kiriya blinked at Dai again before thinking back to what they had been doing for the past couple of minutes. No matter how much he stood his ground, Dai would always knock him back down which caused him to curse and shout at the Rider in anger. But unknown to him that by doing that, he had been releasing his pent up emotions. So to answer Dai's question...

"Yeah, I do feel a bit better." Kiriya said. All the emotions he had been feeling earlier weren't completely gone, but he wasn't about to explode anymore like he had earlier

"Good." Dai said as he sat next to Kiriya. "Now that you've calm down, we can finally talk."

"So that was your goal." Kiriya said, realizing why Dai had brought him out here.

"Yep. With the way you were earlier, it's more likely we would have gotten into a fight than talk. So I decided to help you vent."

"By pommeling me with soccer balls?"

"Hey, all that yelling you were doing helped, didn't it? I've learned that a good way to release all your anger is to take it out on something." Dai said before his smile disappeared and Dai's expression became stern and serious. "So, mind explaining what just happened earlier with Honoka-chan?"

Kiriya didn't speak at first, prompting to just remain quiet. Yet as he sat there, the feeling of wanting to speak grew until he finally opened his mouth.

"I just don't understand. I understand that that girl was trying to confess me, yet when I learned that Honoka-san was helping her, I just got angry. But I don't even know why I got angry."

"You don't?" Dai looked at Kiriya with a raised eyebrow. "I'm pretty sure you just explained it when you were yelling at Honoka-chan. Something about your feelings."

"Ah...uh...you heard all that?" Kiriya said, unable to retort for what Dai said was true.

"I could hear you yelling from across the hall." Dai said. "From the sounds of it, you were mad because Honoka-chan didn't take your feelings into account when she was supporting Taniguchi-san's efforts to confess to you."

Kiriya simply nodded, having nothing to say back.

"While that may be true, you have to remember that she didn't even know it was you who Taniguchi-san was confessing to. So the way I see it, you're both at fault here." Dai said.

"That doesn't make it any less better." Kiriya said, feeling a small spark of anger inside of him. "Yesterday we talked about feelings and emotions, and then this happens. Tch, if this is what having feelings is like then I rather not have them."

"Now don't say that. Having emotions is what us all unique." Dai said. "Without emotions, everyone in the world would be no better than mindless machines."

Kiriya could see Dai's logic, but prompted to remain silent. Seeing this, Dai knew the perfect way to get his junior talking again.

"You know what I think, Kiriya-kun?" Dai said, using honorifics again. "I think you like Honoka-chan."

"Huh!?" Kiriya snapped his head towards Dai and looked at him as if the Rider had grown a new head.

"I mean, why else would you be so effected by this?" Dai said as he placed his thumb and index finger under his chin as he thought back. "In fact, back on the farm, you and Honoka-chan were pretty close to one another."

"That's only because we were paired together!" Kiriya exclaimed loudly, his face red.

"She bandaged you up when you cut yourself." Dai pointed out.

"She did the same when you came back from being beat up by one of those Unidentified Lifeforms!" Kiriya retorted.

"You face is all red." Dai pointed out with a playful smirk.

"S-Shut up!" Kiriya exclaimed as he tried to cover his face with his arm. "I do not like-!"

"She apologized, didn't she?"

"Huh?" At Dai's sudden shift in tone, Kiriya blinked for a few moments before looking back at the Rider.

"She apologized to you, right? For not thinking about your feelings." Dai asked again, being more specific.

I'm sorry for saying those things to you. I'm sorry!

Honoka's words echoed in his mind as he thought back to when Honoka had come over to confront him. The honesty in her words were true and pure with not a single lie in it. Such words shouldn't be enough to appease him, yet...

"If Honoka-chan was truly sorry about hurting your feelings, then shouldn't you respond in kind?" Dai said as he got up to his feet. "I'm not saying you should go and make peace with Honoka-chan right away. The fault lies with her not taking your feelings into account. But that doesn't mean what you tried to do to Taniguchi-san this morning is dust under the rug. That girl worked up the courage to express her feelings even if there was a chance she would face rejection. After what you did, the least you can do is apologize to her. Then, when you feel like it, try and make up with Honoka-chan when you're ready. And if you ever run into trouble..."

Dai offered a hand to Kiriya.

"Feel free to ask for help from me. That's what friends are for."

Kiriya looked up at Dai, not knowing how to respond as he stared up at the teen's face before looking at the offered hand. Slowly, he went and grabbed it before Dai pulled him up to his feet. Then...

"I don't remember us becoming friends." Kiriya said.

"Eh?" And just like that, Dai's serious expression was broken. "I thought we were."

"We're not friends." Kiriya said as he pulled his hand back before pointing up at Dai. "I first joined the soccer club to show off, but it's different now. You're a rival, Dai-senpai, and I won't rest until I finally beat you."

Dai blinked in surprise at Kiriya before he just grinned and suddenly wrapped his arm around Kiriya's neck, surprising the guy.

"Oh come on! Rivals can be friends too, you know!"

"H-Hanase(Let me go)!" Kiriya exclaimed as he tried to break free from Dai's hold.

"Anyway," Dai then released Kiriya before he walked over to the net. "I'll clean up things around here, so you go back to exams, Kiriya-kun."

"You were the one who dragged me out here in the first place." Kiriya mumbled under his breath as he went and grabbed where he placed his blazer on the ground before making his way back to the building.

Along the way, Kiriya stopped halfway and turned to where the girls campus division was at. He could sense it, his sister fighting against the Pretty Cure. Before he knew it, he snapped his fingers before heading back to his classroom, the damage already done.

(Back with the girls)

"Dorarararararara!" In a series of battle cries, Nagisa sent out a fierce barrage of punches and kicks, her fists and legs were almost a blur to the naked eye. It honestly surprised Poisony just how relentless Nagisa was in her attacks as the Dark General found herself on the defensive, dodging and deflecting all of Nagisa's incoming attacks.

"Got you!" Nagisa declared, seeing an opening and kicking forward, but to her frustration, what she kicked was another mirror. Pulling her feet back, Nagisa glared at the broken mirror before her before screaming out, "This is so annoying!"

"Black, abunai(watch out)!" Honoka called out and just in time too.

Quickly turning her head around, Nagisa saw a speeding Poisony heading her way. Reacting quickly, Nagisa jumped and flipped over Poisony before she went and grabbed one of the Dark General's arms.

"Got you!"

"Shit!" Poisony cursed herself for getting caught.

"White!" Nagisa called over to her friend as she spun Poisony around before she threw the woman with all of her might, sending the woman flying out of control with no way to correct herself.

Seeing the woman she's had a grudge for a long time, Honoka ran forward before she jumped up, spun around a few times to build momentum, before delivering a devastating to Poisony, sending her flying back and crashing into a mirror, breaking it as she gasped in pain and coughed up a bit of blood.

"That was for my Obāchama(Grandmother)." Honoka said as Nagisa regrouped with her.

"Alright! Nice going." Nagisa complimented her friend, though something told her that Honoka still wasn't quite done with the female Dark General.

Said Dark General removed herself from the mirror, shaking off shards of reflective glass as she wiped away the blood on her mouth and looked at said blood. Just the sight of it enraged her, but she did not go ballistic, she had more self-control than that.

"I'm done playing games." Poisony said, glaring over at the girls before she snapped her fingers.

"Huh?" Both girls blinked in confusion when their vision went weird. Instead of seeing things clearly, it was like they were now seeing the world through a window.

"What is this?" Nagisa thought out loud as she and Honoka looked around in confusion.

"Wait a minute. Are we...?" Honoka began as she realized what Poisony had just done to them.

"That's right. You're now inside the mirror." Poisony said, answering Honoka's question. "And now that you two are like that..." Poisony then raised one arm before snapping her fingers. A second later, one of many mirrors suddenly exploded, sending glass and dust everywhere as what remained of the mirror were only broken shards. It didn't take a genius to figure out what Poisony was saying.

"This is the second time that my blood has been split. I absolutely won't forgive you two now." Poisony said, unconsciously clenching the hand that had the bullet scar. She still had yet to pay back the man that had shot her that day.

"I'll simply look through the rubble and find the Prism Stones later." Poisony said as she raised her hand, preparing to snap her fingers and finish off the Pretty Cure once and for all.

"Oh crap!" Nagisa cursed as she started panicking. "What do we do!? Should we try the Marble Screw and break out?"

"We're inside the mirror, Black! We'll be smashed along with it if we did that!" Honoka said, panicked as well.

"Oh man, oh man, oh man, oh man! What do we do!? I don't want to die!" Nagisa said as she and and Honoka banged on the mirror they were while trying to figure a way out of this predicament.

*Shine!*

The girls stopped freaking out when a light sudden appeared right behind them.

"What is that?" Honoka asked, confused.

"I don't know, but I don't care! It's out ticket out of here! Come on!" Nagisa said as she and Honoka quickly leaped forwards towards the light just as Poisony snapped her fingers.

*SNAP!*

*BOOM!*

The mirror before Poisony exploded just as she snapped her fingers. Smoke and glass flew everywhere, yet none of it hit Poisony who calmly waited for the smoke to clear and see what had become of her enemies. Once the smoke cleared, she expected to see mirror shards with their body parts reflected in them, yet all that were reflected in the mirror shards was her own reflection.

"They escaped? How?" Poisony wondered out loud, surprised and angry that the girls had somehow gotten away.

Unknown to Poisony that the cause for the girls' escape was none other than her own little brother.

(Real World)

Stumbling out of the light, both Nagisa and Honoka fell out as their transformation was canceled. Getting up, Nagisa opened the door to their classroom. The two expected to see the entrance to that strange placed Poisony had conjured up, but to their delight, what stood before them was their class and classmates.

"What are you two doing?" Their teacher said. "Take your seats so we all can get started."

Nagisa and Honoka looked at one another for a moment before smiling awkwardly and did as told.

"All right, everybody, take your time and work through each of these problems carefully. Lately, there have been a lot of you who have forgotten to write their names on their tests so make sure you don't forget."

And just like that, class resumed as normal.

(Later)

The rest of the day went without incident as day one of exams soon came to an end. Nagisa had left with Dai to go home so Honoka was left alone to walk home when she spotted Seiko. The girl had actually been waiting for her so they could talk. As of right now, the two were together doing just that as they walked.

"I'm sorry about what happened." Honoka said, her head down slightly. "Because of what I said..."

Seiko shook her head. "No, it's okay. I'm happy that everyone gave me so much encouragement."

"Still..."

"It's fine." Seiko insisted. "But you know, while I was waiting for you, I met Kiriya-kun."

"Eh?" Both girls stopped walking as Honoka blinked at the girl in surprise.

"He came by to tell that he was sorry for what he tried to do. He also said that he just couldn't accept my letter." Seiko explained. "I was a little disappointed, to be honest, but it made me feel better that he came to apologize. I told him thank you and boy did he looked surprised. He was covered in sweat and dirt for some reason, but it was quite the sight. You should have seen him."

Seiko turned and flashed Honoka a smile which caused the girl to smile back.

"Oi~!" A familiar voice called out form behind them along with the sound of a revving motorbike. Turning around, both Honoka and Seiko saw Nagisa and Dai on the latter's TryChaser 2000 while the former was waving at them.

"Is that a motorbike?" Seiko asked, pointing at the incoming bike.

"Yes. It's Ichi-kun's if you were wondering." Honoka said as if it was no big deal as Dai stopped the bike and Nagisa got off, handing her helmet to Dai before going over to the girls, specifically Seiko.

"Seiko, there are a lot of good things in store for you from now." Nagisa said as she dug into her bag.

"What do you mean?" Seiko asked before Nagisa pulled out a flyer showcasing a chocolate parfait.

"Ta-da! Look at this! All you can eat chocolate parfait! The days of your youth are just beginning. This setback must make you feel frustrated, so what better way to vent than to stuff your face. I'll keep you company so don't you worry, okay?" Nagisa said with a big smile before she grabbed Seiko's wrist and dragged the girl off.

"Ah! Hold on!"

"There's no time to lose! If we don't hurry, there won't be anything left for us!"

Seiko could only look at Nagisa in surprise before her cheery attitude seem to infect her as she smiled.

"Yosh(All right)! I'll going to stuff myself full!"

"That's the spirit!"

Honoka and Dai watched the two girls run off before the former looked at the latter for an explanation.

"On our way home, Nagisa-chan saw that flyer and thought it could help cheer Taniguchi-san up." Dai explained. "Plus, you know how Nagisa-chan is with chocolate. It's a win-win for both of them."

"That Nagisa." Honoka sighed, but smiled nonetheless as she turned and shouted over to her friends. "Let's do our best on tomorrow's test!"

Nagisa came to a stop, having heard what Honoka said. Turning around, Nagisa said with the utmost certainty...

"I don't want to talk about that now!"

"I'll help you study tonight!" Dai shouted over.

"I'm holding you to that!" Nagisa shouted back before she turned and ran off. "Chocolate parfait, here I come!"

As Nagisa continued to cheer, both Honoka and Dai simply sighed at the girl's carefree attitude. Of course in Dai's case, that may be calling the pot calling the kettle black.

And...done! Finally! I finally finished this chapter after so long! I am sorry for being gone for so, so long, but I just can't seem to manage my time right. I'll try and get the next chapter up as soon as possible, but don't expect anything coming up super fast.

Now concerning this chapter, I think it came out okay. There is the problem of there being little "screen time" for Dai, heck I initially planned to not do this episode because of that. But I did this episode because I wanted Dai and Kiriya to connect and there is a reason why I did this. I won't say anything as doing so would spoil things for what I have planned for Max Heart. There was also very little changes to the episode as well which is yet another reason, but I just powered on through.

But next episode, oh HOH! Do I have something planned that is going to blow you readers away! A battle of epic proportions so fierce that Dai and the girls are not coming out unscathed! If you want to know what I mean then tune in next time for the next chapter. Until then, this has been Ashbel Longhart here, signing out. And as always, here's...

Pretty Cure: Rider Fun Facts

"Hello minna-san!" Mepple shouts through the mic as he slides onto the stage. "Welcome back for another Pretty Cure: Rider Fun Facts-mepo!"

"Oh my kami! Why did the author take FIVE MONTHS just to get this chapter out!?" Nagisa exclaimed while speaking out the thoughts of tons of readers.

"One word: College-mepo." Mepple said.

"Does college really take up that much of his time?"

"Not really, but lately he's been rather poor at managing his time and he's a bit behind on work so he's pretty stressed out-mipo." Mipple explained.

"It must be hard for him." Honoka said.

"To him, it is. But let's not get into problems of life and talk about more of this story-mepo!" Mepple said.

"So what are we even talking about? Author-san didn't even show what Grongi Dai-kun was fighting today so what is there to even talk about?" Nagisa asked.

"I'm glad you asked, because today we're moving away from the Grongi and talking about a certain subject we haven't done in a while-mepo." Mepple said as on the screen was an image of Kuuga. "Kuuga! But more specifically..." The image then changes to the boy under the mask, Dai. "We're talking about our main character of this story, Ichi Dai-mepo!"

"We're talking about Ichi-kun?" Honoka asked, interested.

"That's right. Since he didn't show any Grongi in this chapter, author-san thought it was a good idea for people to get to know Dai better-mipo." Mipple explained.

"To start off with some basic information, Dai was born on January 10, 2000. Fun fact: it was during the month of January that Kuuga began airing-mepo."

"His parents, Ichi Touya and Ichi Misuzu, were world famous archaeologists and thus traveled around the world quite often-mipo. Being their only child, Dai accompanied them on their many trips and it was through these trips that he learned many fighting techniques-mipo."

"Wait, what?" Honoka blinked at that last bit of info.

"According to this, Dai met many martial arts masters and fighters as he traveled the world with his parents-mipo." Mipple explained. "By watching these masters in action, Dai learned all sorts of fighting techniques, but could not utilize and practice them until he was older-mipo."

"So the reason Dai-kun knows so many fighting styles is because he met so many different masters from around the world and just simply watched and copied them?" Nagisa asked.

"In a sense. But know that while Dai knows a variety of fighting styles, he has not mastered any of them-mepo." Mepple explained. "He know's the basic principle and function of each fighting style, but he is no master, simply adept-mepo."

"Huh, so that's why he just spars with us whenever we meet up to train. He doesn't have anything to teach us anymore." Honoka thought out loud.

"Anyway, Dai's Zodiac sign is the Sagittarius and whenever he's not out fighting Grongi, his hobbies include reading and watching anime and manga, taking care of his TryChaser 2000, excising, practicing all 1000 of his skills, and trying to learn new skills-mepo." Mepple listed off.

"I'm still baffled by how skills he has, yet he still isn't satisfied until he reaches 2000." Honoka said.

"That's Dai-kun, determined to do something until the very end." Nagisa said knowingly.

"Dai also has a...oh." Mepple stared in surprise at what he was reading before he turned to Nagisa.

"...what? What is it?" Nagisa asked, curious as to why Mepple had stopped.

"..."

"..."

"...Well that's all the time we have folks!" Mepple suddenly said.

"Wait, what!? Hold on! Why did you look at me like that!? What were you about to say!?" Nagisa said as he tried to grab the paper in Mepple's hand, but said fairy ran away. "Get back here!"

"Um..." Honoka and Mipple watched awkwardly at their respective partners before turning back to the audience. "Tune in next time for when we and Dai face off against Ilkubo for the first time, along with a certain surprise that has the author excited. What it is, well even we don't know, but until then, we'll see you next chapter."

As Nagisa continued to chase Mepple, Honoka and Mipple waved goodbye as the next episode was displayed.

Next Time: Too Scary! The Final Boss Already!? Dark Zone's Final Trump Card!