"Now Kiriko, you can pick whichever ones you like, the choice is yours, but just remember one needs to be left behind." A voice said to Kiriko.
Kiriko's eyes were opened up wide as she looked at the four dolls lined up in front of her in the aisle. Kiriko looked just liked she did when she was six years old, wearing a blue dress with a lilac button up shirt underneath and her hair arranged into pigtails secured with silky green bows. She looked at each doll carefully, she was really happy that she could get more than one. But after looking through the all of them, she just couldn't decide which one to leave out. Kiriko was getting frustrated as she tried to make a decision and all of a sudden, the dolls all disappeared. She reached out for them but she couldn't even save one.
Kiriko then woke up, her breathing getting quick before she realized she just had a bad dream. She then checked the time, only to find out it was three thirty in the morning. She groaned and buried her face into her pillow, knowing she probably wasn't going to fall asleep anytime soon.
Later on, before school started, Kiriko was on the bus thinking about the dream she had last night.
"Yet another dream where I can't make a decision, what a surprise." Kiriko thought to herself as she looked out the window on the bus. This hadn't been the first time in these last couple weeks where Kiriko had a dream like this. She was frequently being given many options in her dreams, from choosing how to spend time a date to choosing a club activity but in all those dreams Kiriko took too long to decide and all of her choices suddenly vanished. Were these what they called reoccurring dreams? Kiriko felt her eyes begin to grow heavy and so she put her earbuds in.
"Lately, well at least ever since we find out that Sophie was going to be the newest addition to our team, I guess I've been preoccupied with getting to know Sophie and ultimately ignoring the fact that I'm still stuck living the same routine. If I want to change how I live my life, then I need to do something about it soon otherwise just overthinking things might just cause more harm than good."
"Can you believe this Chinami? Kiriko Tenoh's on the same bus as us!"A girl sitting closer to the back of the bus yell-whispered to her friend sitting next to her," This would a perfect chance to ask her for an interview for my next video!"
"You still really want to make hold that interview with her?" Chinami asked in an uninterested voice as she scrolled through her phone," She'll probably either be too busy or just won't take you seriously considering-"
"-But it's like the last thing I need for my series! I've had my intro made, I've done surveys of students and asked them how well the student council is doing their job, all that's left is to hear from a member of the council!"
"So then just ask our class rep Osashi or Tadashi." Chinami suggested as the bus came to a stop," It'd probably easier to interview them anyways, Nanae."
Nanae simply shook her head and impatiently stated," Because it's easy to interview them, it won't be as interesting. Kiriko isn't really like the other members of the student council. She's a very stern and serious girl, who comes off as mysterious to most people. She's dignified and is only ever seen talking to Hayase or Tadashi, and I'm sure most people would like to hear more from her too. I mean, she didn't get to be vice-president for no reason, right?"
Chinami didn't say a word as they got off the bus. In a way, her short, easily excited friend Nanae was right. Most people at the school only knew so much about her, but it never really did pique her interest. Unlike their fellow member Tadashi, Kiriko along with Hayase weren't as outgoing and easy to approach so ultimately that made them seem reserved and also aloof in comparison. Chinami knew that Nanae ultimately wasn't alone in how she perceived Kiriko. No one really talked about it, but everyone had this impression that Kiriko was just on a whole other level in intellect and that she wasn't really interested in talking to her fellow students. Because of this, some people thought it made Kiriko seem really cool, others saw quite differently though. Thankfully, Nanae didn't think badly of Kiriko and only admired her for her poise and accomplishments.
Chinami didn't realize it but Nanae had already walked up ahead of her and a few steps behind Kiriko. She wore a look of apprehension on her face, unsure of whether she should go after Nanae and stop her from making a fool of herself. But she decided that it wasn't any of her business at this point and if Nanae wanted to ask for that interview, she might as well while she had the chance.
"So what do you say?" Nanae asked Kiriko after explaining her interview request," I think you'd be a great subject to interview, and this could fun for you too!"
"I'll have to think about it." Kiriko answered briskly as they walked into the school.
Later that day, Kiriko had decided to call a last minute meeting with Asuna and Sophie after her student council session. She texted the two of them to meet her at Cafe Rosewood near to the school and walked to the cafe by herself.
Asuna and Sophie had already arrived at the cafe and were currently going through the menu to see what they should order. The two of them were awfully silent, not in awkward sense but more because they were so fixated on their menu. And also because Asuna felt a bit nervous to be in Sophie's presence right now.
Just before the girls had left on Sunday from Sophie's house, Sophie unintentionally told the girls she wasn't doing so well in her Science class. What Sophie saw as an embarrassment, Asuna however saw an opportunity. Within the next few moments, she had given Sophie Reo's number and told her that he was really good in Science, forgetting the fact that Sophie was a year older than her.
"Well, have you texted her yet?" Asuna asked Reo at lunch. Today, it was just the two of them and Reo's answers were started to sound evasive.
"Are kidding me? As soon as you gave me her number, I texted her like a minute after." Reo claimed, though Asuna didn't appear to be satisfied.
"What did you say." Asuna questioned as calm as she could, her patience wearing thin as a stressed look slowly appeared on her face.
Reo hesitantly handed her his phone and Asuna took it to read through the message.
"Hey I'm Asuna's friend Reo and she told me you needed tutoring so message me if you're stuck on something." Asuna read aloud before reading the next text Reo sent three hours after that one," What's happening."
Asuna just shook her head and gave back Reo's phone.
"She never even responded to Reo's text! Not that I'd blame her though. Honestly I should've just done the texting for Reo." Asuna thought to herself as she hid her face behind the menu.
"Hey Asuna," Sophie then said," Why do you think Kiriko called this meeting?"
Asuna then thought about it for a few moments as a swarm of reasons came to mind. There were a lot of things within the past couple of weeks that happened that would've called a meeting. If anything, it felt like the meeting had been overdue. Asperity had gotten stronger unexpectedly, their motives still weren't clear and as a team, they weren't equal in power. At least, that's how Asuna saw it.
"It's probably because of a bunch of things happening all at once." Asuna explained as she took a large sip from her water," See, Kiriko adores order and organization so for all of these incidents that don't make sense, Kiriko would really want to find out the reason behind them as soon as possible. She's probably going to want to hear me and Nova's opinions on this stuff to come to a conclusion."
"I see..." Sophie answered plainly as she took a sip of water," But, why wouldn't she want to hear my opinion?"
"Well, you haven't been on the team that long." Asuna reminded her flatly," But if you have anything you'd like to say that you think we missed, feel free to tell us!".
"Right..." Sophie responded awkwardly as she dropped her gaze back to the menu.
Just then, Kiriko arrived at their table and took a seat next to Asuna. Kiriko's cheeks were tinted red as she had just came from outside and she took off her coat before apologizing for showing up later than intended.
"Sorry I took so long to get here!" Kiriko said as Asuna offered her the menu," My friend Hayase got caught up in a conversation about university and he started telling me stories about his older brother going to university in-"
"-England." Asuna finished, keeping her eyes on the menu. Kiriko was quite surprised that Asuna had such a lucky guess and just before she got to commend her for it, the waiter arrived and took their orders.
Once the waiter left, Kiriko then explained that she felt like they should've came together just for the sake of being in each other's presence. While it had been nice to visit Sophie's house the other day, she felt as if it wasn't enough and to more comfortable with each other, she thought nothing could beat a visit to a cafe. The girls agreed and they started talking amongst themselves, trying to break down that persistent barrier that kept them feeling distant from each other, particularly Sophie. Sophie then talked about her school life, her best friend Cho and how it was a pain to commute here.
"I'll admit this place is nice, but if I have to come out all the way here to see you guys on a regular basis, it'd probably get tiresome after awhile." Sophie explained as she took a large sip from her chocolate milkshake," Perhaps we could locate some middle ground? Maybe I could even invite Cho to come too!"
"Yeah, that sounds nice." Kiriko replied with a giggle,""In truth, I only called this meeting to take my mind off things. As weird as it sounds, this team always seems to bring me at ease and I don't feel as stressed in their presence."
Later that night, when Kiriko arrived home, she sat in her bedroom quietly and started to write in her notebook. Moments after, Rani came to her side to see what she had been working on.
"Are you doing homework?" Rani asked as she leaned against Kiriko.
Kiriko shook her head and put her pencil down once she had finished writing. Rani looked at her page, only to find out that Kiriko had listed out all of her activities that she did on a regular basis. Rani appeared to be confused and looked over to Kiriko in hopes that she'd explain herself.
"I've been thinking that I've just been doing too much lately, and in order to be happier, I think I should get rid of one of my activities." Kiriko explained thoughtfully," Lately, I've come to the realization that life should be more than just a busy schedule, but right now...I'm undecided on what I should abandon."
Rani was wearing a worried look on her face as she looked at the activities. She searched for the words Pretty Cure and found them enclosed in a red box in the top left corner of the page.
"Why's Pretty Cure up there?" Rani asked Kiriko as she pointed to the red box.
"It's a fixed position, meaning I'm not going to have a choice in quitting." Kiriko explained, not noticing the smile appearing on Rani's face," If I leave, the fate of Laruan Kingdom rests in Asuna and Sophie's hands, and I don't think I feel right in abandoning the team out of nowhere. Plus, I like being with you guys."
Kiriko then took her red pen out and finally drew a red marker around the word work on the page.
"I'm needed at work too, even if we're not as understaffed as we used to be..." Kiriko stated as she sighed deeply," And just like Pretty Cure, work is a commitment too! This is the second job I've ever had and they need me! At least, I think they do."
"But, I'm sure when I finally come to a decision, I'll be able to do things that I can actually enjoy and feel like I'm actually living my life." Kiriko concluded just before her mom called her downstairs for dinner.
"Coming!" Kiriko shouted back as she ran downstairs.
"That's part of it." Rani said once Kiriko was out of earshot," Not only does she needs to do things that will bring her happiness, she needs to do those things with others to get the most out of the experiences. Asuna and Sophie have yet to learn about Kiriko's love of children's books and plushies and basically that whole other side to her, she hasn't even once mentioned it in their presence. Perhaps she's just waiting for the right moment?"
The next day, Kiriko was walking to school with Rani in her bag. She had gotten up earlier than expected so decided to make use of this opportunity and walk to the school. For the first time in a few days, she had slept well, and was ready for the day ahead of her. Today was going to be more relaxed day in comparison to the rest of the typically busy week she just had. Just a regular school day and a little interview with Nanae was all she had scheduled for today, meaning she could do whatever she wanted this afternoon, much to her delight. The walk was quiet for the most part and very few people had been up at this hour in the morning. At least, not many people who walked to school were up right now. Kiriko had her headphones and was listening to music for a little bit until Rani poked her head out of the bag to ask her something.
"So after sleeping on it, have you decided on what activity you should give up?" Rani inquired as Kiriko turned her music off, but kept her headphones in.
Nanae walked out of her house and yawned as she checked the time on her phone. She still had plenty of time to get to school, but she never really got a good night's sleep at her dad's place. It was probably because of how hot her bedroom was during the warmer months of the year. Nanae then looked beyond her front gate and saw a familiar face walk past her house. Nanae then walked out quickly to see whether or not her eyes had been playing tricks on her. No doubt about it, walking ahead of her was Kiriko who appeared to have been talking with someone.
"She must be talking to someone on the phone." Nanae stated as she hastily took out her notebook," Maybe I'll get something really good to work with for my interview!"
"The thing is, both of them have been in my life for so long that having the choose one over the other is tougher than I realized..." Kiriko confessed as she continued to walk.
"Could she be talking about choosing between Hayase or Tadashi?" Nanae thought to herself as she took notes as quickly as she could," She better choose Tadashi."
"Cram school is helpful, but it just takes up so much of my time and with student council...sometimes it just feels like a chore. Both of them can get very stressful easily and I don't see the point in staying if I don't feel like I'm gaining much from it." Kiriko explained after a few moments.
"Kiriko's thinking about quitting student council?" Nanae thought to herself as she wrote down even more notes.
After school, Asuna had stayed back after class and was found hanging at the tables where her friends usually sat. Most of her friends had already gone home for the day save for Reo, who she told she was going to help out in his quest to win Sophie's heart.
Asuna was waiting around impatiently at the tables, tapping her fingers against the table top before she checked the time on her phone.
She shook her head once she checked the time saying, " It's been twenty minutes, where the hell is he?"
Just then Reo appeared and sat down in front of Asuna wearing a guilty expression on his face as he said," Sorry I showed up a bit late. Saito wanted to go to the gym and I had to drill it into his head that I had other things to do."
"Doesn't matter, let's just get this over with." Asuna said as she retrieved a notebook from inside her bag. Nova was also hiding out in her bag, but as always, she had to keep quiet in the presence of Asuna's friends. Asuna then flipped to a page in her notebook.
Reo leaned in closer to get a look at the page Asuna had flipped to and was surprised to find that Asuna had put a lot of content onto the page. But the first thing to catch his eye was a bar that resembled a thermostat at a dangerously low temperature.
"What's that?" Reo asked as he pointed to the thermostat.
"How much Sophie likes you." Asuna answered flatly, with Reo cringing in response," God knows it's probably lower since you haven't texted her back ever since!"
Reo was just about to respond when Nanae had appeared in front of the two of them with her arms crossed and a boy holding his phone sideways as if he was recording something.
She glared at them impatiently and said," We're going to record here, do you mind leaving?"
Both of them had been somewhat irritated with Nanae's rudeness but stayed quiet for a few moments. Reo then made the decision to be mature about this and started to pick up his bag and leave, but then Asuna said,
"You don't get to tell us what to do. There's plenty other places to shoot at school, you can just as easily find somewhere else to shoot."
Nanae drew out a deep breath and simply stated," I'm not leaving, I'm pressed on time and my interviewee will be here any second. So would you please just find somewhere to do...whatever the heck you're doing?"
Asuna was going to decline again but Reo picked up his bag along with Asuna's and motioned her to stand up as he said," Sorry, we'll work somewhere else."
Reo then literally pushed Asuna away with Asuna yell-whispering," What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"Why are you always trying to start something?" Reo asked as he shook his head, continuing to push Asuna forward," She may be pushy but I don't wanna mess with her. Nanae Izumi is a force to be feared. If we do so much as cross her, she'll have no trouble in finding some dirt on either of us."
"I don't care, she's annoying as hell!" Asuna declared as she started walking on her own," Plus...one of my other friends can't stand her because of how bratty she is."
"Sorry I'm late!" The two of them heard a voice say from behind them. Asuna immediately turned around to find Kiriko standing with Nanae and her cameraman. She froze up at the sight, worried about what could've happened to Kiriko with Nanae interviewing. Impulsively, she then hid behind the school building and forced Reo to follow suite. Asuna listened in on their conversation to the best of her abilities, and didn't really enjoy what she was hearing.
"I'm so glad you agreed to do the interview after all! This is going to be great, I've been promoting this interview literally all day on my story, so we're going to have tons of viewers today!" Nanae reassured as she motioned Kiriko to take a seat next to her while she removed some pages from her bag.
Kiriko had gotten a bit more tense after hearing that the interview was going to be live. She took out her water bottle from her bag and started to take awfully large sips from it. She was starting to wish she didn't agree to this as her nerves were now acting up. But she knew she couldn't back out now when Nanae had been so excited about this interview and was thrilled upon hearing that Kiriko would do it. So unwillingly, Kiriko stayed in place, hoping all of this would be over quickly.
Nanae was then doing a countdown from three with her fingers and gave her camera man the thumbs-up. She then smiled a very large smile to the phone and waved.
"Good afternoon, Ikoma High! It's your trusted journalist Nanae Izumi, here to deliver all the news no matter what! Today we're interviewing vice-president Kiriko Tenoh! We're going to get in great detail about the student council, how they see the future of Ikoma High and of course we have a few other things in store!" Nanae said to the phone.
Nanae offered the camera yet another bright, pearlescent smile while Kiriko timidly smiled and sat up straight.
The interview went smoothly to Kiriko, once she had reminded herself that it was simply Nanae asking her some questions. Kiriko answered them to the best of her abilities, trying to maintain that cool, calm atmosphere virtually everyone felt in her presence. Answering the questions had gotten a bit easier once she felt more comfortable in Nanae's presence. At one point it really did feel like she was only being interviewed by Nanae and not watched by dozens of other students.
"So, Kiriko before we wrap things up, there's something that's been going around that I wanted to discuss with you." Nanae began slowly, " Is it true you're planning to quit student council?"
"Huh?" Was all Kiriko could manage.
Elsewhere, specifically at Asperity, Bounce had been sitting all by herself at a table with her feet up. Bounce looked around and felt somewhat uncomfortable to be here with her fellow Asperity commanders absent. She then decided to stand up and open the door at the far left of the room and found Jack and Domino talking amongst themselves.
"Hey, that's actually a pretty good plan!" Jack said to Domino as the two of them shook hands," I bet if this one turns out to be a success, Lili will quit being a colossal jerk to us!"
Domino nodded in response and added,"Not only that, Lilith will feel so in debt to us, she'll feel that she has no other choice but to give us better...equipment to work with."
"But, I thought we'd be through with this stuff once the Pretty Cure were out of the picture." Jack said in a confused voice while Domino shook his head.
Domino then stood up and declared,"Our plans really get into motion once the Pretty Cure are history. After all, we'll have to-"
Bounce then fully opened the door, somewhat startling her fellow commanders as they hadn't noticed her listening in. The two froze up awkwardly at the sight of her and Bounce simply rolled her eyes at them.
"What the hell are you two doing?" Bounce asked as she watched Domino roll up a blue print that had been sitting on the table.
"Jack and I are going to be working together today to defeat the Pretty Cure!" Domino exclaimed with Jack giving her a thumbs-up," We came up with a plan that will undoubtely-"
"Sounds fun, you can save it for next time." Bounce suggested, moments before she turned around to leave, slamming the door shut and disappearing into the human world.
Bounce then appeared a few feet away from the tables where Kiriko and Nanae were holding their interview. Bounce was watching the interview for a few moments behind a group of trees and lost interest very quickly. She then left her hiding spot and approached Kiriko and Nanae.
"Alright, as much I'd like to sit back and watch your boring interview, I'm afraid I'll have to cut things short." Bounce claimed as she walked up to Kiriko and Nanae. Kiriko kept her eyes on Bounce while blindly trying to take her PlayPact from her bag. The camera man then stopped rolling, much to Nanae's dismay and tried to keep Bounce away from the girls.
"Hey, you can't just interrupt our live interview like that!" The camera man shouted to Bounce. Bounce didn't pay him much attention and with a wave of her hand in front of his face, he fell to the ground unconscious.
"Rikido! You, you witch! What the hell's your problem?" Nanae questioned angrily as she stood atop of the table.
"Oh, I like your Patchwork Heart, I think I can put it to very good use." Bounce remarked as she snapped her fingers, causing a black diamond to materialize," It's fragile, weak and best of all it's full of bitterness!"
The black diamond went straight into Nanae's chest and fed off all the negative energy residing in her Patchwork Heart. Bounce then pointed to the pages spread out on the table just before Nanae fell unconscious.
"Do your worst, Defective!" Bounce shouted just as one of the pages turned into a Defective.
Kiriko then held out her PlayPact and was about to transform when Bounce had instructed the Defective to take her PlayPact away. The Defective was successful and tossed the PlayPact to Bounce, who inspected it as a smile arose to her face.
"Without your teammates and your PlayPact, you're pretty much useless aren't you?" Bounce remarked, as Kiriko stood still while trying to plan her next move.
Meanwhile, Reo had been trying to convince Asuna to escape just like he planned to, but Asuna wasn't interested. Reo was literally holding her back until Asuna's patience ran out, resulting in her breaking free from Reo's grip.
"I already said I'm going to help Kiriko escape, you can go ahead of me." Asuna declared, her voice sounding much more patient than Reo expected but at the same time, it also sounded strangely intimidating.
Reo then gave up on her and left without Asuna, who immediately took out her phone to text Sophie to come and then her PlayPact once Reo was gone.
"Pretty Cure, it's Playtime!" Asuna yelled out.
Kiriko was cornered against the wall now, with her gaze fixated on the Defective right in front of her. Bounce was laughing madly at the sight of the Pretty Cure's lead Cure all alone and powerless without her PlayPact.
"I sure hope you didn't think I'd leave without taking some, if not all the magic outta you to fuel my Defective!" Bounce exclaimed as the Defective reached for Kiriko.
All of a sudden, Bounce had been hit in the back of the neck and let go out Kiriko's PlayPact out of reflex. Standing behind her was Cure Teddy, who caught Kiriko's PlayPact.
"You sure got some nerve taking my friend's PlayPact like that!" Teddy said as she glared at Bounce before she threw the PlayPact to Kiriko.
Kiriko caught her PlayPact and held her hand up shouting," Pretty Cure, it's Playtime!"
"The Princess of wishes, Cure Dolly!" Dolly introduced.
Teddy then landed on the table next to Dolly and glanced over to her while holding out her hand in an odd manner as she said," I texted Sophie and she said she'll be here soon. Right now we'll just have to fight without her."
"Defective, don't just stand there! Go beat them to a pulp!" Bounce demanded as she pointed to the two of them.
Teddy then turned around and finally gave her attention to the Defective, holding out her hand in front of herself shouting," Pretty Cure, Flame of Hope!"
Her attack had been stronger than usual and the flame lasted longer but, this time, it didn't grow to the point where it was uncontrollable. Dolly was surprised to see that Teddy's attack had gotten stronger and just before she was going to commend her for it, the Defective recovered and started to attack again.
Teddy and Dolly both jumped backwards and the Defective followed after them. The Defective then grabbed a hold of the table and tossed it towards the Cures. The Defective was unsuccessful and missed the both of them. The two of them landed onto the ground, with Cure Teddy wearing a rather unhappy expression as she looked as the spot where the table once was.
"That was our favourite table." Teddy said after drawing out a sigh," Sakuya even carved our names on the bottom of it."
"You guys vandalized school property?!" Dolly questioned incredulously with Teddy nodding in response.
The Defective then held it's hands out in front of itself and the Cures looked at it curiously wondering just what it was planning. The Defective then shot out a mass of loose sheets from it's hands. The two Cures didn't really seem impressed with the Defective's attack until all of the pages started to form one gigantic sheet of paper. The Defective then took hold of the giant sheet and rolled it up to hold it as if it was a weapon.
"What is it trying to do?" Dolly asked warily as she kept her gaze on the Defective.
"I don't know but I'm not trying to find out!" Teddy yelled as she darted towards the Defective to spar with it, with Dolly following after her.
Teddy and Dolly then tried to engage in battle with the Defective, but the Defective wasn't interested in a fight and just turned it's rolled up sheet of paper into a paper fan and blew them away. The two Cures were up high in the air, unsure of what to do.
"Two can play that game!" Dolly shouted as she held her hands out shouting," Pretty Cure, Gale of Wishes!"
The attack didn't deal much damage to the Defective though. Instead, the Defective blew the attack back to the Cures with it's fan. The Cures landed into the branches of a nearby tree, both of them experiencing quite a bit of pain as landing on the smaller branches of the tree proved to be quite uncomfortable.
"I can't believe I didn't see that one coming!" Dolly griped as she shook her head. Just then, the Defective snapped off both of the branches the Cures had landed on and was about to toss the branches away before the two leapt off of them.
"This one's awfully energetic." Teddy noted with Dolly nodding in response.
"Your reign of terror ends here!" The Cures heard a familiar voice shout.
Standing a few feet behind the Defective was Cure Bubbly who leapt up high and shouted out," Pretty Cure, Whirlpool of Justice!"
The Defective looked alarmed for a moment and dodged as quickly as it possibly could. Nobody except Dolly noticed it's momentary distress. Bubbly then joined her fellow Cures and ran towards them, with both Cures being surprised she came here so quickly.
"Isn't your school on the other side of town?" Teddy asked as the three of them ran towards the Defective.
"I had business to take care of in this part of town..." Bubbly replied awkwardly as she shifted her gaze to the side.
The three Cures then began to try and fight with the Defective, but it was about to use it's paper fan against them again. The three of them stood their ground, and the only one devising a plan of sorts was Cure Dolly.
"Bubbly, do you think you can use that attack again?" Dolly inquired.
Bubbly nodded and Dolly then discussed her plan with the girls. After she explained the plan, Dolly and Teddy started running towards the Defective with Bubbly following behind. Dolly and Teddy were getting ready to attack, but the Defective still didn't have any desire to fight against them, so it swung it's fan to blow the girls away.
"Now!" Dolly shouted.
Bubbly then jumped up as high as she possibly could, out of range from the Defective's attack as she shouted," Pretty Cure Whirlpool of Justice!"
She aimed for the paper fan the Defective was holding and her attack was right on target. The paper fan was drenched in water and so all that was left to defeat the Defective.
The Cures then sprung into action and fought with the Defective. Teddy and Bubbly fought alongside each other while Dolly delivered attacks on her own. Teddy and Bubbly were much quicker than the Defective and used this to their advantage. They didn't leave a single opening for the Defective and the Defective was already reaching low levels of energy. Teddy and Bubbly then passed the Defective to Dolly, who was more than ready to deal the finishing blow. But just then, the Defective grabbed a hold of Dolly and clutched her as tightly as it could.
"Dolly!" Teddy and Bubbly cried in unison as they rushed towards the Defective.
Bounce then descended down in between the Defective and the Cures, a smile rising to her face as she watched the Cures stand around helplessly. She put her hands on her hips and listened closely, relishing in the sound of Dolly trying to break out from the Defective's clutch.
"This ends here." Bounce declared as she then stretched her arms out," You kids have been messing with us for way too long and now, we can just call it a day."
Bounce then looked over towards Dolly, who was still making the effort to break free and smirked while saying," Too bad it had to be on the day of your lousy interview."
Dolly then shut her eyes and reached for her PlayPact while trying to think of a way to escape.
"If I use the pretend mode, all I can mimic is the Defective's ability to shoot out paper, but that won't do me any good! What other options do I have?" Dolly thought to herself, looking towards her fellow teammates," Could I use the pretend mode to mimic their abilities?"
Dolly then decided it was worth a shot and then squeezed her eyes shut as she concentrated her magic into her PlayPact. She kept her eyes shut and felt the PlayPact grow hot at a very rapid rate. Dolly smiled to herself and kept quiet as she kept concentration.
The Defective then looked down at it's hand and as soon as it got too hot, the Defective let go out Dolly who had a ring made from fire floating around her waist.
"Pretty Cure, Gale of Wishes!" She shouted as she held her left hand in front of herself. A violet whirlwind appeared out from her hand and the Defective had been knocked down.
"Bubbly,quick!" Dolly yelled, sounding a lot more distressed now," Use your water powers and help me get rid of this ring!"
Bubbly looked a bit surprised but agreed to help extinguish the flames. Once the flames had been distinguished, Bubbly then set her attention to the powerless Defective in front of them.
"Pretty Cure, Justice Allure!" Bubbly shouted, as the atmosphere around them became yellow and blue. The Defective was purified and reverted back to it's original form.
"Ugh, it's whatever. At least Jack and Domino got a plan to use." Bounce grumbled before she disappeared.
"Hm, that Defective burned apart quite easily, but I guess that was only because it was made from paper." Dolly said stoically as she dusted off her dress. Teddy watched her with a worried look on her face, unsure if she should ask about what happened during the end of the interview.
"Something the matter?" Dolly asked once she noticed Teddy was staring.
Teddy simply shook her head and kept quiet for a few seconds before saying," If you need to talk about, anything really, I'm always here to listen ok?"
Dolly then smiled to her, and said in a slightly artificial tone," Yeah, of course!"
"In other words, I got caught off-guard," Kiriko summarized on the phone," I didn't think she'd pull something like that, but don't worry, I'm not going to quit student council."
"Ok, that's great to hear. Should I try and clear this all up for you?" Hayase offered in a more relaxed voice.
"You're talking to Kiriko right?" A familiar voice said from behind Hayase.
Hayase nodded with a slightly agitated look on his face and turned his back to the person once more.
"No don't worry about it! I can take care of it, I'll just need to have a talk with Nanae." Kiriko explained with a forced chuckle," I'm sure she'll listen to reason."
"Tell her that stuck-up jerk would never do that." The person ordered Hayase, who was trying to make sure their voice hadn't been heard by Kiriko," Not in a billion or a zillion years!"
"Can you not?" Hayase finally said out of frustration, causing the person to finally keep quiet.
"Anyways, I've got some homework to do, so I'll see you next week ok?" Kiriko said on the phone.
"Yeah that's fine! See you later, Kiriko." Hayase said, a small smile appearing onto his face as he said Kiriko's name.
Just as soon as Hayase hung up, the person behind me got even closer and glared at him while saying," Why didn't you let me talk to Kiriko? She's my friend too."
"Asuna, you can call her on your own time." Hayase reminded her curtly," Again, why aren't you at your own sleepover?"
"Because Misa's sick and Tadashi won't let me stay home by myself." Asuna explained to him.
Hayase's expression changed from that of a skeptic one as he held back on a sigh. He really wanted to call Tadashi into the room and confirm this with him, but knowing Tadashi, Asuna was probably speaking the truth, so he chose not to waste his breath.
"I'm gonna go order a pizza for dinner." Hayase informed as he stepped out of the living room and left Asuna by herself.
Asuna then went upstairs into her room. She tossed her bag onto the floor and crashed onto the bed while Nova came out from her bag looking somewhat disheveled. Asuna paid her no mind and started playing a game on the PSP she had left on her bed.
"Hayase seems a bit annoyed you're here." Nova remarked as she took a seat on the bed next to Asuna.
"Tell me about it." Asuna responded, keeping her attention on her game as she leaned her whole body against the wall next to the bed," Somehow, I'm not surprised though. Originally I had this idea that he'd treat me differently if we weren't at school. So...guess I was wrong about that."
Both of Asuna's parents were going to be out of town during this weekend for business trips, so their mom suggested that Asuna and Tadashi plan sleepovers at their friend's place. Tadashi made plans with Hayase, his best friend, and was all set. Asuna however never heard back from Misa after texting her the day their parents already left.
Tadashi had been getting ready to leave and go to Hayase's place, but then he noticed that Asuna hadn't been getting ready so his suspicions had been raised.
"Why are you still here? Shouldn't you be at Misa's house?" Tadashi questioned as he started putting on his shoes.
"Oh, Misa canceled on me so I'm just going to stay here tonight." Asuna explained to him briefly, trying to keep her focus directly solely on her game.
Tadashi then stopped putting on his shoes and narrowed his eyes at his sister, trying to figure out what to do with her. He couldn't trust Asuna to be home alone and he didn't really want to cancel on Hayase. So instead, he thought of way to avoid both scenarios.
Tadashi had made the decision right on the spot and took out his phone to dial up Hayase. He probably could've simply texted him, but a part of him really wanted Asuna to hear this and see her reaction.
"Hey Hayase, wanna switch things up and you come over to my place instead?" Tadashi asked, causing Asuna to drop her game and toss a pillow on the couch in his direction.
"What the heck are you doing?!" Asuna shouted, her voice a mixture of anger and panic as she stood on the couch.
"Great, see you then." Tadashi said before he hung up and directed his attention to Asuna," I can't leave you here by yourself! Knowing you, you're probably just going to throw a big party and make an even bigger mess the minute I leave the house! Plus this would a great time to-"
Asuna shut him up by throwing another pillow and hitting him square in the face.
"Are you going to go back downstairs?" Nova asked as she gave Asuna a worried look.
"Nah, not until the pizza comes." Asuna answered as she laid down on the bed and shut her eyes. Asuna had been looking quite exhausted ever since the fight earlier and it was to be expected, not only because she had given it her all as usual but because she had spent the last couple of days trying to tame her powers. She knew that she wasn't going to make any progress whatsoever in reminding herself that her magic wasn't like Kiriko's so to offset her loss Asuna had transformed and practiced in her room with instruction from Nova.
Nova wasn't any expert, but her first suggestion had proven itself to be successful after a short amount of time.
"All it took was channeling my magic into my hands, do nothing with it and just store it there until I needed my powers." Asuna thought to herself as she felt her eyelids grow heavy," Nova said it was a much better form of distributing my magic but it can't be that easy. Chances are, this won't work out for long. So I've got to keep working on it I guess."
"Asleep already?" Tadashi whispered as he opened the door to Asuna's room," I guess she'll just have to eat later."
Tadashi then went downstairs and found Hayase eating a slice of pizza. He sighed, knowing things had been slightly tense in the house once Hayase knew Asuna was also here. So he just acted casually and sat next to Hayase, taking a slice of pizza for himself.
"You know, Asuna told me she tried confronting that Nanae girl, said she was willing to fight her but that friend of hers, think it was Reo, held her back." Tadashi began, knowing he probably shouldn't have tried to begin a conversation by talking about Asuna, but he didn't seem to care," She probably got so fired up because you said you think Nanae's an entitled, spoiled brat."
" How does she know about that?" Hayase asked as he took a sip from the soft drink can next to him.
"Sorry, man. I told her about it." Tadashi said sheepishly before things momentarily fell quiet between them," I know you get annoyed whenever I tell Asuna stuff about you these days but, I guess it's all cuz I still like to think we're these three best friends, just like when we were kids. Well, maybe annoyed isn't the right word. Still, it would be nice if things were like that again."