Asuna was sitting by the tables next to the school building, her usual hangout spot after school, with her friends Reo, Yutaro and Sakuya. The school had fallen quiet, as the group had stayed back longer than they had intended. They had lost track of time, unaware of how late it had became only until they noticed the decrease in numbers of students passing by them. Asuna had only stayed back with them today because her parents were going to pick her and Tadashi up from school to go out for dinner. As the afternoon grew warmer, Asuna removed her jacket and tuned back in to her friends' conversation.
"So, I'm just standing there right, you know acting natural and stuff and then all of a sudden she approaches me and tries to get to know me." Reo told the group. Asuna rolled her eyes, but the rest of the group seemed to be enticed with what Reo had to say. Asuna hadn't really been paying attention until now and was stuck listening to the boys talk about their 'fateful encounters' with really pretty girls, that would consist of them saying "Hi" and "Can I get your number?" in the same sentence.
"So did you hear back from her?" Sakuya asked inquisitively," It has been four days."
"Nah, she's been way too busy with school for texting." Reo answered, receiving looks of understanding from the boys while Asuna simply rolled her eyes.
"I hate to break to you but she just ghosted you and left you for good." Asuna declared with a dramatically grave look on her face.
The boys didn't seem convinced though and Reo then said," Nah, she's one of those goody two-shoes. She's an older girl and she's trying make her grades look good for university."
Asuna still wasn't convinced and was insistent at this point that the girl wasn't planning on responding to his texts," Buddy, in this day and age, we're all always right next to our phones, I don't think any of us can last a day without texting somebody. I'm telling you, she isn't interested and honestly, that doesn't surprise me."
Yutaro and Sakuya laughed at Asuna and took her side, while Reo glared at her with an annoyed expression engraved onto his face.
"It's ok man, you don't need her." Yutaro reassured as he picked up the magazine sitting next to him, flipping to a page in the center of the book," There's still Sophie."
"Sophie?" Asuna repeated, sounding rather confused before Reo took the magazine to stare at the girl.
Asuna was feeling as if she was out of the loop as the boys stared at the magazine, their gaze fixated on this Sophie person as if they were in a trance. Asuna offered them a look of question and Yutaro held out the spread they were looking at in front of her.
"She's a model from Tokyo who moved into town a few months back. She's mad famous and goes to school on the other side of town, I think she's in second-year." Yutaro debriefed as Asuna stared at the picture of the girl. Sophie was a slender model with skin like milk chocolate and captivating bright big eyes. In the photo, Sophie was modeling clothes for some chain clothing company that was a bit on the low-end of fashion, so Asuna had questions about exactly how famous this girl was.
"If she's so famous then why isn't she modeling for some designer brand?" Asuna asked curiously as she continue to study the spread, now holding in her own hands.
"So here's the thing about Sophie. She hasn't had her big break yet where she can start modeling for those brands, but she's getting there." Reo explained briskly," She has a big following, it's just...the major agencies haven't picked up on this yet and Sophie's not one to blatantly point it out."
"That's a shame, since she can take some pretty photos. She's like, photogenetic." Asuna remarked as she closely viewed Sophie's expression on the spread.
"It's photogenic, Einstein." Reo scoffed as he took the magazine from her,"One of these days I'm gonna hop on a bus going to the other side of town, introduce myself to her and ask her out on a date."
"That's lame." Asuna commented in a deadpan voice as she shook her head," What you need is an actual strategy. You can't just waltz into her life and expect her to fall for you! Heaven knows she probably gets guys like you bothering her all the time."
"An actual plan does sound like a good idea though, maybe then you'd stand a chance in winning the Sophie Aina's heart." Sakuya pointed out with a snicker.
"Exactly. If you put more thought and effort in this endeavor, then chances are you'd be more successful." Asuna declared confidently.
All the guys exchanged expressions to see if they were all thinking the same thing.
"Ok, so I think I got something. Hear me out," Reo began, sounding very certain of himself," Step One; become an acquaintance to Sophie by...getting introduced through our mutual friend, Asuna."
Asuna looked at the three of them skeptically as she said in disbelief," Are you guys serious?!"
Kiriko had been sitting in front of her classroom, on the floor for about ten minutes now, worlds away from the school grounds and in deep thought. Lately, she felt as if she needed to adjust her lifestyle, and not just because she became a Pretty Cure, though the incident might've instigated this desire. Kiriko been going through a mess of emotions lately, it really wasn't like her to act like this but Kiriko just couldn't explain it. She saw it as the result of these last few month's events. From becoming a Pretty Cure, to befriending Asuna and then Kozue's visit from last week. Kiriko had all these thoughts swirling around in her head that, something needed to change in order for her to feel at peace again. But, what kind of change did she need?
"Even though I live two separate lives, one of which involves me to risk getting thrown around like a rag doll, my life stills feels like it's being lived incorrectly." Kiriko said to herself as she looked out the window in front of her," I've always seen life as some kind of blueprint, a full-blown chart of tasks that have to be completed at certain times. Obviously, things don't always go as planned, but in the grand scheme of things, I don't really go off-chart. Because I'm afraid of life without a set plan, I think I've ultimately made myself suffer more. In order to set things right, I need to find an activity that I don't have a pragmatic reason for doing. Like a hobby, I guess."
Kiriko sighed loudly and shook her head, feeling doubtful in her own abilities.
It never failed to amaze Kiriko how things as simple as trying out new things, or trying to find a new hobby was something that excited other people, but made her uneasy. All she could think about right now was looking for a new hobby, hoping that it would be of interest to her somehow and hoping that other people would like it too so she could be like everyone else in a way and discover that sense of belonging everyone else got to experience.
"This shouldn't have to be so frustrating." Kiriko lamented, as she looked down the hall. She knew well that an average student would've been somewhat surprised to find their vice-president, sitting on the floor after school had ended awhile ago. She had already received a few suspicious looks anyways.
Kiriko then stood up and stretched before she left to go home. The sun had been setting now and Kiriko seemed to be alone in her walk home. But, just as she was leaving the school, she heard a pair of voices a couple feet away from her.
"Great, so if you need any help on setting up or anything like that, don't hesitate to text me ok?" A voice that Kiriko had sworn she heard before but couldn't match anyone with said.
Kiriko turned around and saw a girl from her grade she had recognized. The girl had brown hair that fell a little past her shoulders, fair skin and blue eyes hidden behind a pair of glasses. Her cheery, upbeat voice caught Kiriko's attention and while Kiriko never really talked to her, she always thought the girl was quite nice.
The girl then noticed Kiriko and casually walked up to her.
"It's nice that the weather's staring to warm up around here." The girl remarked, though Kiriko only gave her a blank expression for a few moments.
"Um, yeah. Can't wait for summer vacation to come." Kiriko said in an awkward manner," Busy day at your club?"
"Without a doubt." The girl answered with a shrug," I'll tell you though, it was amazing. We finally did a photo shoot with the fashion club and the dresses these girls made were beautiful. You would not believe some of the talent hidden away at our school."
Kiriko nodded, keeping quiet as she felt a bit guilty all of a sudden. She seldom paid much attention to other clubs and such, but it appeared that this girl had yet to notice.
"One of these days, you should drop in and see them in action, you won't be disappointed." The girl suggested," So, how's student council going? Everything going as scheduled?"
"How did she know I was a part of student council? Oh, that's right...everybody knows that." Kiriko thought to herself sheepishly before answering with," Yeah definitely, things have been going great."
The girl smiled and the two of them fell quiet. Kiriko however, wasn't panicking to herself or overthinking things as she usually did. Kiriko felt a welcoming presence from this girl and for once didn't feel as if she wasn't coming off as intimidating or indifferent to someone.
Then Kiriko suddenly asked," Would it be possible if I could drop in and see your group in action this week? I'm interested in your work."
The girl lit up as she heard Kiriko's question and answered with," Definitely! We're actually planning to do a photo shoot on Wednesday, are you free that day?"
Kiriko nodded and the girl then said before their paths split," Awesome! I'll see you then. It was nice talking to you, Kiriko!"
"Yeah, same to you. By the way..." Kiriko began in a nervous voice,"What's your name?"
The girl giggled and said," I'm Mari. Meet me by the gym doors after school on Wednesday, ok?"
Mari crossed the street, presumably heading to the train station nearby as Kiriko walked home.
When Kiriko got home, she found that she was home alone, so she went upstairs and crashed onto her bed. Rani had been reading one of Kiriko's books, and then came to Kiriko's side as soon as the girl fell onto her bed.
"Kiriko, is something the matter?" Rani asked as she inched towards Kiriko.
"Lately, I've feeling like...like I can't do this anymore." Kiriko declared with a giant sigh. Kiriko then noticed that her statement made Rani appear quite distressed, so Kiriko felt the need to elaborate.
"I'm not talking about Pretty Cure! I'm ok with that stuff now, I just...it's my regular lifestyle. It's not what I want to do anymore." Kiriko confessed as she uneasily sat upright and hugged one of her pillows," I want to change things, I want to enjoy myself. Not just worry about if a disagreements going to come at a student council meeting or if work's going to be understaffed. I need to...I want to do things that'll make me happy."
"Oh, I understand Kiriko. But, I thought your Friday nights with your stuffed toys and picture books made you happy?" Rani asked curiously.
"It does but, I do that in secret." Kiriko said briskly," I want to do things with friends, and maybe find an activity I like that brings me closer with other people. I don't mind the being on student council, or work, or even cram school but...all of them put together are getting in the way. I do all these things pragmatically, you know what that means right?"
Rani shook her head, feeling a bit embarrassed for not knowing but Kiriko simply smiled to her.
"It means I do things with a set reason, I don't them just because I can." Kiriko explained calmly, as she placed her hand on the nape of her neck," I think becoming a Pretty Cure made me realize quite a few things. One of those things being that, I sometimes overthink things, and cause more harm than good. Another thing being that...I'm too busy to have fun. I don't want things to be like that anymore. I think a lot about how much more I'd enjoy myself if I got a second chance to go through my first year of high-school again. I think I'd make the effort to make friends, I wouldn't be as shy and I'd do as many fun things as I could think of. Like Asuna, I guess."
"So what will you do now?" Rani questioned bluntly, as Kiriko averted her gaze," Are you going to look for a hobby?"
"Well, I made plans to visit the photography club next week. It's definitely not something I had in mind but, it's worth a shot, right?" Kiriko stated with a shrug.
Asuna and Tadashi were sitting in the back of a car with her mom and her mom's boyfriend driving. Tadashi was texting his friend and had his headphones in during the drive, while Asuna was just looking out the windows with an absent look in her eye. The inside of the car was a little warmer than Asuna would've liked it, but she kept her sweater on and made sure that her arms were covered. After what had happened earlier, she knew she would've been better off if her arms were left unseen to everyone.
"Seriously Reo, how am I even to approach her anyways?" Asuna asked reluctantly as she held arm out, with her sleeve falling down on her. On her arms was a tensor bandage wrapped tight and all the boys looked at it in shock.
"Girl, what the hell did you do to your arm?" Reo asked as he brought himself closer to Asuna's arm to inspect the bandage.
"Uh, cooking accident, I just burned my arm. No big deal." Asuna answered curtly as she pulled up her sleeve.
"You burned both your arms?" Yutaro asked, pointing out the bandage peeking out the sleeve for her other arm.
Asuna just groaned in irritation as a response.
Asuna's arms had been burned pretty badly, but it wasn't from a cooking mishap. Ever since her last battle with Asperity, Asuna had been hoping that the burn she had received on her arms would just disappear, like magic. But no, the burn persisted and while it may have been getting better, Asuna still couldn't help but wonder why it happened.
"It doesn't make sense, if I have powers, then just why the hell can't I use them as freely as Kiriko? I probably shouldn't try to use that move again, but it's strong so, I can't just give it up. I'll figure it out, it's just magic anyways." Asuna thought to herself before she looked ahead to see where they were driving to," God I don't wanna go to some fancy restaurant, I just want a slice a pizza and call it a day."
The car stopped in a restaurant's parking lot and Asuna looked around to see where they had been taken to. She was familiar with the area, and she appeared to be skeptic of the restaurant as she narrowed her eyes at it and everyone who walked inside.
A lot of the people who entered were rather dressed-up, so Tadashi immediately felt under-dressed as they all walked inside. Asuna couldn't care less about how everyone looked at her though.
"Should've brought my school blazer today, at least then I wouldn't stick out as much." Tadashi said with a sigh as the group was led to their table," Are you even listening?"
"You think they sell pizza here?" Asuna asked louder than intended as she looked around the restaurant, causing Tadashi to shush her.
"All you ever want to eat is pizza." Tadashi chided as they took their seats.
Asuna then tuned her brother out and started to think about the incident with Asperity again as she looked through the menu.
"I know Kiriko's magic is stronger than mine but the question is, just how much stronger is it?" Asuna thought to herself," With fighting, it's easy to better my skills but, with magic it's confusing. Maybe there's more to magic than I think..."
Asuna then felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and retrieved it to see who texted her. She received a message from Kiriko that said,
"Hey would you be interested in coming with me to check out the photography club on Wednesday?"
Asuna narrowed her eyes at the text and said in her head," Ugh, just what is she trying to do? Enroll me in a stupid club?"
But before Asuna declined her offer, she decided that she wanted to hear Kiriko's reason for this invite to the photography club visit.
"Why?" She texted on her phone.
"I want to join, but I'm too shy to go by myself." Kiriko explained in her text.
Asuna stared at the text for a few moments, as things didn't quite add up in her mind as she read the text. Kiriko was already busy enough already so joining a club now would've just been too much for her. Plus, Kiriko never seemed like the type to have an interest in photography. It felt as if Kiriko was holding back on some information. But, Kiriko didn't usually text Asuna unless it was something important, or at least, something she considered important, so Asuna agreed to go with her and texted her,
"Ok, I'll come with you."
On Wednesday after class, Kiriko and Asuna were being led to the photography club classroom by Mari.
"And here we are!" Mari said as the three of them stopped in front of a classroom door," This is the photography club!"
Mari then opened the door and revealed a group of students inside the classroom, setting up shots with their cameras and inspecting the room to find an interesting spot to photograph. Once they saw Mari in the doorway, everyone smiled and greeted her.
"Hey Mari! Will we be taking some shots outside today?" One of the girls asked as she held a seemingly heavy camera in her hands.
"Yeah, the weather's nice today so I don't see why not." Mari answered casually as the girl was getting ready to leave the classroom," Sakimi, just stay a few minutes, I have an announcement I have to make to the club."
Sakimi nodded and took a seat as Mari looked around the room to make sure all of her club members were here. Nobody was absent, so Mari was able to make her announcement.
"Attention!" She yelled, her voice sounding awfully shrill as she did so.
Everyone's eyes turned to Mari in an instant and so Mari said," Today we will be having two honorary guests today! This is Kiriko and Asuna! They don't belong to any clubs, so make sure to make them feel extra welcomed today!"
The group members nodded in agreement and Mari then rushed to the other side of the room to retrieve a camera for the girls.
"Wow, these cameras look really high-tech. They much have about a dozen features on them!" Kiriko remarked in astonishment as she eyed the camera in Sakimi's hands," Asuna, don't you wanna look at it?"
"I've seen them before, so it's nothing new to me." Asuna admitted sheepishly," My mom's boyfriend used to be a photojournalist, so he let use his camera before."
"Oh I see." Kiriko commented quickly, hoping she hadn't touched on a sore topic as she continued to look at the camera.
"Ok, I've got you guys a camera you can share!" Mari declared as she placed a camera identical to the one Sakimi had onto the table," Kanon Revolution D6, An incredibly versatile model, at a fairly reasonable price. Of course, you can always get a better deal on them around September if you're interested in making the investment."
"Wow, even the name of it sounds cool~" Kiriko marveled as she caught her reflection in the camera's lens while Asuna simply rolled her eyes.
Cautiously, Kiriko lifted the camera from the table and studied it carefully. She had only ever seen cameras like this in flyers, and the closest she had been to a high-tech camera was simply having her picture taken by one of them during family photos. The camera was surprisingly heavy and there was a large set of buttons, each labeled with an icon that Kiriko have difficulty in understanding. Thankfully though, she was able to turn it on by herself.
Mari assisted her in getting the camera into live mode, while Asuna's mind wandered off.
"Maybe if I trained harder, I wouldn't have got those burns on my arms..." Asuna thought to herself as she took a seat,"...I've been debating on whether or not I should tell Kiriko. I don't want her to freak out and ban me from using magic, so maybe it'd be best to just work on this without having her know about it..."
Just then, Asuna caught sight of a magazine with a familiar model on it laying in front of a group of the club members on the other end of the table. Asuna's interest was piqued and slowly, she glanced over to get a better view of the magazine. Just as she suspected, Sophie had been on the front page of what appeared to be a painfully large catalogue for a department store.
In this magazine, that appeared to be a few years old, Sophie was wearing a really cute pair of navy blue overall shorts, decorated with gold buttons, and a white long sleeve button up shirt. One of the members noticed Asuna staring at the catalogue and saw it as a chance to start a conversation with her.
"It's a cute outfit, right? This catalog was from about five years ago, when Sophie Aina was only eleven." The girl explained," Sometimes we look at photos in catalogs and magazines to get an idea of how a picture would be set up in comparison to today. A catalog like wouldn't have that many noticeable differences, but it's always nice to look through this catalog in particular, just because it's literally filled with pictures."
Asuna then simply brought the catalog closer to her and started flipping through the pages, in hopes she would see another photo set of Sophie.
"Are you a fan of Sophie?" One of the club members inquired as they all took notice of Asuna looking through the pages intently.
"Well my friends really like her, I wouldn't mind knowing more about her though." Asuna admitted as she scanned through the catalog. Something about Sophie's pictures were, unusual to Asuna but she couldn't quite determine why. The pictures of her carried this familiar feeling to them, but Asuna wasn't really sure why.
Kiriko and Mari had gone outside so Mari could provide Kiriko with a demonstration on how to use the camera with subjects she found more interesting.
"I know it'd probably be easier for you to test out taking pictures inside with some sets we made but, there's a lot of great stuff out here that I think you'd have more fun taking pictures of." Mari said in her defense as she led Kiriko out to the school's garden.
Kiriko took in her surroundings with an astounded look on her face. She hadn't been to the school's garden in quite a long time, so just looking at all the colourful flowers around left her breathless.
"Flowers have such bright, vibrant colours and I personally always like to take photos of them." Mari admitted as she knelt down in front of a flowerbed, with Kiriko following suite," Let's take a few shots of these ones."
"Jack, you sure have some nerve showing your face here again." Domino remarked as he was outlining the sketches for his new blueprint," You know if I were you, I would've consider going incognito for a bit, you how failures upset Lili."
Jack shook his head before he impatiently said," I don't need to go into hiding. Like it or not, Lil thinks I'm just as important to Asperity as you are, so I don't have to worry about facing 'Lilith's wrath'. "
"Wow, you say that with the utmost confidence, it's very admirable." Domino jested as he firmly put a hand on Jack's shoulder.
Jack was quick to shoo away Domino as he stated," Why wouldn't I? I'm not afraid of her."
" Then how come you haven't made any form of contact with her since you came back from last time?" Domino questioned with a smirk," You can't risk seeing Lilith, knowing that she'd be livid to find Jack, an Asperity Commander, fail yet again! What you need to redeem yourself is to use a plan. You must devise a strategy so cunning and well thought out that the Pretty Cure won't know what-"
"-Shut up for a second, I hear someone coming." Jack said as he leaned up against the wall and cupped his ear to it. He could hear voices that he recognized though what exactly they were saying was unclear.
Just then, Bounce and Lilith had burst out of the door, with Bounce shouting awfully loudly," I'm heading today, it's my destiny."
"It most certainly is not. Domino! You're going instead." Lilith demanded as she glared at the two of them," Bounce, I'd much prefer you just avoid seeing the Pretty Cure for awhile, until we've brought an end to them."
"Nah." Bounce said as she simply shook her head," I'm just as strong as Jack and Domino. I shouldn't need to be told what I can and can't do if they aren't getting the same treatment. All I know is that I wanna make a big as hell Defective and make some enemies."
Bounce then waved good bye and disappeared, with Lilith wearing a rather frustrated expression on her face.
Lilith then shut her eyes in a weak attempt to calm down and simply said," Domino, follow after her."
Domino then nodded vigorously and vanished in an instant.
Bounce then reappeared near Kiriko and Mari, who were too busy taking pictures of flowers to even notice her. Bounce grinned at the sight of them and then revealed a black diamond inside her palm. She looked down at it expectantly and let it fly towards her target.
"Go forth and corrupt her Patchwork heart!" Bounce yelled as the diamond went straight for Mari.
Kiriko shielded her eyes from the bright light that came from the diamond and seeped into Mari's skin, into her Patchwork heart. From inside her Patchwork heart, the diamond unleashed a form of magic that was dark, toxic, and highly unsuited for Mari's Patchwork heart. The diamond then exited Mari's body and Bounce made it fuse with a watering can nearby, turning it into a Defective into the process.
"Defective!" The monstrous water can bellowed.
Asuna had ran to the scene and came to Kiriko's side as they both took out their PlayPacts and shouted,
"Pretty Cure, it's Playtime!"
"The princess of wishes, Cure Dolly!" Dolly introduced.
"The dame of hope, Cure Teddy!" Teddy introduced.
The two were standing a few feet away from the Defective, with Teddy looking absolutely ready to start fighting while Dolly seemed a bit distraught.
"What it is?" Teddy asked after taking notice of Dolly's expression.
"I feel like something's missing, like we should say a little intro phrase together, you know?" Dolly suggested, before she set her gaze on the Defective," We can worry about that later though, let's go!"
Dolly and Teddy ran up to the Defective together and began to fight against it. As they had fought against the Defective, it suddenly spun around and sprayed, actually more like soaked, them with water. The Cures were both drenched, and wore very different expressions on their faces.
Dolly was evidently aggravated as she wrung the bottom of her dress while saying to herself," Why couldn't it just fight normally like the rest of them?"
Teddy however, was appearing to be thoughtful for once and was carefully thinking about whether she should use her powers today.
"Because I control fire, my attacks won't have much effect on this thing. If anything, I'll probably be the one getting hurt if I use my powers like that again..." Teddy thought to herself as she sighed in frustration," Guess we're going to do this the old-fashioned way!"
Teddy dove into battle without a second thought and left Dolly behind unwillingly, under the belief that she followed after. Teddy jumped up very high and the Defective tried spraying her with water again, with little success this time as Teddy wasn't in range of it's attack. Teddy did a somersault in midair and drove a kick down into the Defective. The Defective staggered backwards and Teddy landed on the ground, feeling as if her fighting alone wouldn't be enough. She was unwilling to do another attack with magic again, knowing her element was going to be ineffective against the Defective and because she was worried about hurting herself again.
Teddy glared at the Defective as she thought to herself," Damn, now probably would've been a really good time to use the Pretend Mode, but lord knows how badly I'll mess it up this time."
"Teddy! Are you ok?" Dolly shouted as she ran to her side," The Defective is going to be quite a pain to deal with if we can't get around it consistently soaking us with water. We should think of a way to either dry up the water inside of it, or somehow clog the holes in Defective's spout."
"Yeah, you think of something, meanwhile I'll go back to attacking-!" Teddy declared as she was about to run off, but Dolly stopped her. Teddy was a bit surprised as she saw an adamant look in Dolly's eyes.
"We really have to work together this time." Dolly stated solemnly," I know you want to just beat this thing up but, I don't want to risk you getting yourself hurt."
Teddy looked a bit uneasy and thought to herself," Did she know about what happened the last fight?"
Teddy drew in a deep breath and finally said," Ok, what did you have in mind?"
Bounce continued to watch the fight, feeling unsatisfied as all she saw was the two Cures speaking with each other while the Defective stood around. Bounce rolled her eyes and shouted to the Defective,
"I didn't make you just so you could stand around, go fight them!"
The Defective did as told and charged towards the Cures. Teddy sighed loudly and turned around to fight against it while Dolly just jumped up into the air.
"Sorry to keep you waiting!" Teddy shouted as she delivered a very strong punch towards the Defective.
"Pretty Cure, Gale of Wishes!" Dolly shouted from midair. Her attack aided Cure Teddy in fighting against the Defective and was strong enough to blast it a few feet away. The Defective collided with a tree and Dolly tried to decide how to fight against it.
"I guess fighting it traditionally would be ok, but there should be a more effective way. Something that isn't just wearing it down until it can't move." Dolly thought to herself," I could use the Pretend Mode on it to use it's power against it, but somehow I feel like it won't have much of an effect."
Dolly's eyes opened widely, as she realized something," It hasn't been spraying us with water for awhile now, why is that? Maybe there's not a lot of water inside it to begin with, so it's holding onto it until it really needs it. The Defective knows spraying us with water is it's best method of action but it's sources are limited. How can that be of use to us though?"
Just as Dolly was thinking about her next plan, the Defective was about to grab her but Teddy prevented it from doing so as she jumped up and shouted,
"Pretty Cure, Flame of Hope!"
The Defective appeared to be quite frightened of Teddy's attack and evaded it as best as it could.
Dolly took notice of this and continued to think to herself before she said," I think that might work."
The Defective was keeping it's distance from Teddy, who was currently inspecting her arms to see if her burn marks had gotten worse. She exhaled a sigh of relief. The burns were still the same but that didn't mean Teddy felt certain that'd she be ok to use the Pretend Mode.
"I feel so stuck right now," Teddy groaned to herself," I really wanna just fight this thing but-"
"Teddy!" Dolly yelled to her partner," Give him hell!"
Teddy was in disbelief of what she heard, but then gave Dolly a giant grin and did as told. Dolly joined the fray briefly and the two fought together. Soon after, Dolly jumped up as high as she could into one of the tallest trees in the vicinity. Teddy turned and looked at her partner unsurely.
"Come join me!" Dolly shouted to her teammate, who only offered her a look of question, forcing Dolly to shout," Trust me on this!"
Teddy did as instructed to and followed up the tree.
Bounce seemed rather annoyed and said," Those two think they can just camp up there because they think my Defective won't follow them, well joke's on them! Defective! Go and climb the tree!"
Both Teddy and the Defective looked at Bounce incredulously, unsure if they heard her correctly. The Defective simply did as told and climbed up the tree. Teddy seemed worry while Dolly just stared at it intently.
"What are we supposed to do when it reaches us?" Teddy asked nervously.
"Jump." Dolly answered without a trace of doubt in her voice.
Teddy seemed even less sure of her and so, Dolly whispered her plan into Teddy's ear.
The Defective reached the two of them and so, they both jumped. The Defective stared at them for a few moments before Bounce demanded it to jump too.
"Hey look, all the water's spilling out of it!" Teddy shouted as the two Cures were falling.
"Teddy, here's your chance!" Dolly shouted. Teddy nodded as she landed on her knees, moments before the Defective came tumbling down.
"Pretty Cure, Flame of Hope!" Teddy yelled as she positioned her hands in front of the Defective. The Defective was hit head on with the attack and couldn't move another inch.
"Dolly, how about we finish it off together?" Teddy suggested as her teammate ran to the scene.
Dolly nodded and took a deep breath as she started to concentrate on her flow of magic while Teddy looked down at her hands anxiously before following suit.
"Pretty Cure, Charming Enchant!" The two of them shouted in unison, purifying the Defective in the process and reverting it to it's original form.
"Hey, what the hell? I thought that Defective was supposed to be stronger than the others!" Bounce hollered as she crossed her arms,"Whatever, it's like mom says. It's not about failing, it's about how you learn from it that counts."
Bounce then disappeared and the two Cures looked over at the spot Bounce was at before she left.
"That's some...oddly good advice." Teddy noted, without noticing that her partner had rushed to Mari's side.
Kiriko was sitting next to Mari, and was awfully quiet for a few minutes while Asuna sat next to her awkwardly. The silence had been going on long enough and just before Asuna was going to break it, Kiriko spoke up.
"Emptying out the Defective of it's water was the best thing I could think of. Mainly because I knew you'd be able to use your powers against it if the water was all gone." Kiriko began, her words rushing out as she fixated her gaze on the ground," All of a sudden, I feel guilty. Mari got caught up in this, and she was so nice to me and well..."
"Kiriko, it isn't your fault, it could've happened to literally anyone." Asuna reassured as she gingerly put a hand on Kiriko's shoulder," But I've been wanting to know, why do you wanna join the photography club all of a sudden?"
Kiriko hugged her legs and eventually answered with," I wanted to try something new. Something that would make me feel happy in the company of others. Work can be stressful, Cram school is kinda lonely and student council well...to be honest as much as I like doing it, it's not fun Asuna. I want to be everyone else and actually do something I like doing, not just because I have a set reason to do it, you know?"
Before Asuna could answer, Kiriko then said," Well, maybe you don't. It's kinda hard to put it into words really, my life feels just feels stagnant once you strip away the Pretty Cure stuff and once that's over, I worry I'll be stuck living the life I once lived...and I'm not sure I want that."
Asuna nodded and the silence reformed as Asuna shifted her gaze to the ground as she wrapped her arms around one of her legs.
"I kinda feel bad now for seeing Kiriko as just someone who was a powerhouse for magic." Asuna thought to herself," Well, you were having fun today right? So, maybe this is the first step to change. I mean, it's even pretty brave of you to decide that you wanted to change things."
Kiriko shrugged as she replied with," I guess. I think without the whole Pretty Cure stuff, I wouldn't have even realized my life had been so...repetitive. This experience has brought a lot of good things. So, maybe I should be more grateful to it."
"That's the spirit!" Asuna cheered with a smile as Kiriko smiled back to her.