Chinami stretched her arms out in the empty school yard, looking straight at the track before her. She was intent on circling the giant track a couple of times today, even if she would've preferred jogging this morning. Usually, afternoon jogs were something that she looked forward to, but the idea of having someone from school around without her knowing made her quite tense. It was a lot less likely for a student to be here in the morning but unfortunately, Chinami wasn't much of a morning person. Chinami then looked around, ensuring that nobody was in sight.

"I'm sure nobody will notice since I'm running." Chinami reassured herself, though she didn't feel convinced in her words as she tied up her ponytail. Once her hair was in a ponytail, streaks of electric yellow and periwinkle could be seen in her hair.

The classroom where student-council would be held was unusually quiet today, despite the fact that all the members, except for the president were in the classroom right now. The younger representatives in first and second year were staring at the classroom door in anticipation while the third years seemed a bit less interested and made better use of their time by studying.

Kiriko and Tadashi appeared to have been one of the few who were waiting about anxiously, but they were able to at least try and work on some homework. Kiriko was working away at one of her assignments while Tadashi had taken a break from his work and started staring at the clock on the classroom wall.

"Hayase's been gone awhile, think he's trying to make some kinda appeal?" Tadashi wondered aloud as he pressed his fist against his cheek.

Kiriko then joined him in looking at the clock and only responded with," He isn't foolish enough to do something like that on his own. Maybe he just has to sign some formal documents."

Just then, Hayase entered the room and all eyes were on him. Everyone in the class was looking at him expectantly and Hayase then took a deep breath as he tried to collect his thoughts. After a few moments he finally said to his team,

"It didn't go through."

The third and second years looked disappointed and shook their heads, but they knew Hayase was not to blame. They had fallen quiet while the first years wasted no time in speaking their minds about the matter.

"But that isn't fair! Our petition was filled with signatures! Our school wants a newspaper club, whether they like it or not." A first-year class representative, Osashi, declared in a resolute voice," We can't give up!"

"They didn't even offer a compromise of sorts? That's pretty indecent of them." A second-year class representative, Misato, remarked as he jotted notes into his notebook.

"Osashi is right, we shouldn't just call it quits now. The students have expressed interest in a newspaper club so it's only fair that the student council does their part and help them get this club approved." Tadashi stated, with members of the council nodding in response.

"Ok, Kiriko, Tadashi, Misato and Shina. You guys stay here, the rest of you are dismissed." Hayase declared, taking note of Osashi's displeasure in this before he added," All the dismissed members will be tasked with thinking of compromise options we can appeal with to the principal."

The dismissed members nodded in approval, and walked out of the classroom. A good portion of the dismissed members seemed rather pleased in getting to leave early, but the rest of them looked rather unhappy as they took their leave, feeling like if anyone should be staying, it should've been them.

Kiriko opened up her notebook again and read through the notes on her page for the umpteenth time today. Today was supposed to be the day when the principal would approve of the newspaper club. Normally, a club didn't need approval from the principal or faculty but because the newspaper club was going to be requiring a few extra resources, the principal had to oversee it and make the decision. It was frustrating to see that the club had been denied, but Kiriko knew she likely wasn't the most upset member of the council. It didn't bother her as much since she didn't have much time left at the school anyways. The thought of that made her a bit uneasy though.

"We need to think of some way to make the principal permit the newspaper club." Hayase stated as he stood behind the podium in the classroom," We need something innovative, something that he won't be able to deny."

"Ooh, I have an idea!" Shina exclaimed cheerfully as she raised up her hand," Let's place a curse on the faculty."

"Shina, we're not doing that." Hayase responded briefly, returning to looking through his notes from the principal as he leaned against the podium.

"Oh come on! It'll work wonders for our case." Shina claimed in her defense as she stood up from her seat," Imagine this, you're a lowly high-school principal just getting by in life by frustrating your student body when all of a sudden- 'Oh no! I've receiving nothing but mysterious scary omens and my crops are all dying on meeeee!' "

"Shina, just shut up." Hayase said flatly, not even lifting his gaze from his notes.

"Shina you need to stop referencing those period dramas you keep watching 'cuz nobody can follow what you're saying..." Tadashi advised her sheepishly.

"Why did you get chosen to stay behind?" Misato muttered under his breath as he briefly looked up from his notes to glare at Shina.

"Well, did the principal give you any reason as to why we can't have a newspaper club?" Kiriko asked curiously," Aside from the added expenses of it."

Hayase then exhaled a sigh and said," He's worried it'll be a waste of time if the students aren't actually that interested in it."

"Did he not see the petition filled with signatures on it?" Misato asked sarcastically as he narrowed his eyes at Hayase.

The rest of the group didn't seem to be following so Hayase had to elaborate and said," The principal is under the impression that the students aren't going to be as interested in the newspaper club once it gets approved and it'll be a waste of time to approve it. He doesn't believe the students are actually passionate about starting a newspaper club."

"Well, with not much sense in direction or experience in journalism, can you really blame him?" Shina stated in a candid tone," If the club doesn't do well, that'll only discourage them."

"Hm...what they need is a club president whose super passionate about the written word! Someone who will get the team motivated to work hard and carry on." Kiriko claimed in a determined voice, with some of the council members nodding in agreement.

"Do we know anybody like that at Ikoma?" Shina asked skeptically, looking around the room to see if her fellow members had any suggestions.

The group was silent for a couple of moments as they tried to think of someone who fit Kiriko's description.

"What about Nanae Izumi?" Misato suggested thoughtfully, finally letting his gaze meet the rest of the council," She's a well-established figure in our school, and from what I've seen she's a very good reporter."

"That's a great idea!" Kiriko exclaimed, her face lighting up at the suggestion," I'm sure she'd love to be a member of the newspaper club. But...now that I think about it, I haven't heard much about her news channel recently."

"Gee, I wonder why..." Tadashi remarked in a sarcastic tone, crossing his arms as he side-eyed Hayase, who burrowed his nose into his notebook," As nice as it'd be to have Nanae lead the newspaper club, it's probably not happen."

The rest of the council seemed a bit confused, and felt out of the loop, leading Kiriko to ask," Did something happen to Nanae?"

"Well, after Nanae had gone to try and publicly embarrass you on her channel like that, a certain student council member took it upon themselves to set her straight, and she hasn't made an update to her channel ever since." Tadashi explained, as Hayase continued to hide his face behind the notebook.

Shina was giggling and Misato only seemed unapproving of Hayase's actions, while Kiriko was stunned and not entirely sure as to why Hayase would even think to do something like that.

Kiriko then reminded herself of the issue at hand and then asked,"So, what has she been doing?"

Nanae was sitting at a bench near to the school, humming to herself as she looked at the school doors expectantly. She was playing with her hair and was debating on whether she should place a little braid into it, despite the fact that she wasn't very good at braiding. Nanae then sighed, silently cursing herself for not asking Chinami to make a braid for her before she left for her afternoon jog. She then adjusted her pigtails, making sure they were even and looking nice, before she removed her phone from her bag. She then put the phone on recording mode and started to record her surroundings.

"He's running late..." Nanae said to herself with a sigh as she positioned the phone in front of the school doors before she fidgeted with the bows that secured her pigtails," Oh wait, he's coming out now!"

Exiting the school was Nanae's former cameraman Rikido coming out of the school, drinking from a water bottle before he waved to Nanae. Nanae wore a giant grin on her face at the sight of him and ran towards him as quickly as she could.

"Babe I missed you~!" Nanae said as she hugged him as tight as she could, pressing her head against his chest. Nanae shut her eyes for a moment and Rikido looked a bit surprised to see Nanae here, but he didn't complain.

"I said you could go home without me today." Rikido said sheepishly as Nanae broke the hug," But, thanks for waiting up. You really didn't have to."

The two of them then walked home holding hands, unaware that the members of the student council saw them leaving the school. The members all hid behind the school building, exchanging confused expressions as they watched them walk together.

The next day, Kiriko was walking to school with Asuna and Mari, explaining her predicament to them. Usually, she would've been more considerate and kept this a private thing, but since Nanae didn't seem to have any problems flaunting her new relationship, Kiriko figured she didn't need to skim out on details.

"I want to ask her about it, but I don't know how she'd feel getting approached by me..." Kiriko confessed as she stared at the sidewalk," I might not know Nanae that well but, it still seems out of character for her to put her news work aside in favour for a relationship."

Asuna shrugged, lacing her hands behind her head as she closed her eyes, saying," Without her sticking her nose into everything, the school's gotten a lot more peaceful. Would you really want the old Nanae back anyways?"

Kiriko seemed a bit uncertain and responded with," Maybe? I mean...yes Nanae is a bit, eccentric. But she's good at what she does, I think it's probably better to try and talk to her before we draw any conclusions."

Mari nodded in agreement and then said," Maybe she's just trying to find something to keep her sidetracked. I mean, if I got in trouble for doing what I loved at school, I know I'd steer of it for a while."

The girls then arrived at the front of the school and parted ways to their classrooms. Kiriko walked over to her locker to put away her bag, but then she noticed a note tucked in the corner. Kiriko removed the note from out of her locker and read it to herself.

"If you want to know about what happened to Nanae's channel, please meet me after school beside the tables." Kiriko read aloud. The note seemed awfully suspicious with no mention of the writer's name. But, Kiriko wasn't paying too much attention to that and instead was texting Hayase and Tadashi about the note and what was written on it. It did bother her that she didn't know who the writer of the note was as the day dragged on.

By the end of the day, Kiriko could be found sitting with Hayase and Tadashi at the tables where the note writer said to meet them. An awkward silence was starting to form amongst the three of them as they patiently waited around. Tadashi was playing a game on his phone while Hayase was studying and Kiriko was looking around to see if their person was coming, though she knew it wouldn't do her much good if she didn't know who they were.

Kiriko then decided to stand up from her seat and said to the boys," I'm just gonna get a drink a water."

Once Kiriko was out of earshot, the boys seemed less tense and felt as if they were free to talk about things outside of student council. Tadashi exhaled a large sigh and bashed his head against the tabletop.

"Don't you think this seems sorta shady?" Tadashi questioned in a nagging tone, not even lifting his head from the table," I mean, how that person even know we were interested in having Nanae as our news club president?"

Hayase shrugged and didn't say a word, only keeping his gaze on his textbook. Tadashi narrowed his eyes at Hayase, unimpressed with his response as he looked up to the sky. There wasn't a cloud in sight and it was a really nice day, a day that he'd rather take advantage of by doing something way more fun than getting "intel", as Hayase called it, about one of the more annoying girls at the school.

Tadashi then returned his gaze back to earth and then noticed something on Hayase that made his eyes widen greatly.

"When did you get your ears pierced?" Tadashi questioned loudly, causing Hayase to shush him immediately.

"Not so loud! Kiriko might hear you, I want her to notice them on her own..." Hayase declared bashfully, averting his gaze from Tadashi," Besides, they're just magnetics."

Rolling his eyes, Tadashi shook his head once Hayase continued with his studying. His best friend, despite being as smart as he was, doubled as one of the most clueless people he had ever met. Tadashi pressed his fist against his cheek as he stared at Hayase.

"He's so dense! I'm not surprised he didn't seem suspicious when I mentioned that special someone liked pierced ears." Tadashi thought to himself," And of course, he's got the wrong girl in mind."

Once Kiriko returned from getting her drink of water, she walked back to the table and noticed a familiar figure walking towards her fellow council members. Kiriko narrowed her eyes at the person, feeling as if she had seen them before, but it was a bit difficult to figure out when.

The boys looked up and saw Chinami standing before at the table, urging her to take a seat.

"I take it you're the one who sent Kiriko the note?" Tadashi asked nonchalantly while Chinami fixated her gaze on the top of the table. Chinami nodded rigidly and heard footsteps walking over to their table. She looked up and saw Kiriko walking to the table. Kiriko smiled to Chinami politely and took a seat next to her.

"You're Nanae's friend Chinami, right?" Kiriko asked with a nod from Chinami," Ok so, tell us everything you can. Your help means a lot to us."

"Alright well...it all started when she had that talk with Hayase..." Chinami began briskly, as she unwilling met the gaze of her upperclassmen. Already this was beginning to feel like a mistake to her as she spoke about what happened.

Nanae was a mess of emotions as she sat with Chinami and lamented about her talk with Hayase moments ago. Chinami put a firm hand on her shoulder and tried to calm her down as Nanae vented to her without any regrets.

"He is such a complete and total jerk! I can't believe I ever thought liked him. Who does he think he is, telling me what I can and can't ask my interviewees." Nanae said in a huff before she folded her arms and place her head atop of them.

"It's ok, you just have to be more mindful of your work and who you're interviewing, I'm sure Mitarashi meant no harm when he confronted you." Chinami reassured, before she took noticed of the expression Nanae's face skewed into as she lifted her head back up. Chinami offered her a look of question.

"My only question is, why was he so defensive for Kiriko? Why did he feel the need to defend her honor like that?" Nanae asked in a frustrated tone as she took a deep breath.

Chinami kept her mouth shut, not wanting to point out the obvious and instead stood up while saying," I'm gonna get us some drinks from the vending machines. A can of milk soda, right?"

Nanae nodded and so Chinami left to get the drinks. Chinami's head was swimming with thoughts as she tried to think of better ways to tend to Nanae's broken spirits. She hadn't ever seen her best friend so upset and that was saying something considering Nanae was a rather emotional individual. Chinami had considered a few things to take Nanae's mind off things, but, some of her ideas had stemmed from her own methods of cheering herself up and therefore probably wouldn't have worked as well for Nanae. Chinami then thought about that look she saw on Nanae's face and felt a shiver crawl her spine. That look of sheer animosity upon talking about Kiriko, it made Chinami feel uneasy and a lot more worried for Nanae.

Chinami bought a can of milk soda and a bottle of vitamin water for herself. Chinami smiled as she held the can of milk soda and walked back to the spot where she and Nanae were sitting. Chinami then stopped dead in her tracks when she saw her and Nanae's friend Rikido sitting next to her. Chinami was going to approach them but, all of a sudden, she felt out of place and took refuge behind a set of trees.

"I feel so embarrassed! I want to continue my interviews but, I feel so out of it...like I just don't have it in me to create right now." Nanae confessed, her tone a lot less aggressive and more dismal," I don't wanna stop making content for my channel but...I just don't know what to do."

Nanae rested her head on Rikido's shoulder, and he wrapped his arm around Nanae's shoulder. Rikido nodded in understanding and the two fell quiet for a few moments.

"You know, there's a bunch of other things you can do beside interviewing. I know you love interviewing very much, to the point where you joined the video club just as an excuse to host them but...there's still some other fun stuff out there that I'm sure you'd be good at." Rikido said softly in a reassuring voice," For example, there's the whole video-making process. I know you weren't that interested when you joined the club but if you gave me an afternoon, I can show some tricks and other cool stuff about video shooting."

Nanae slowly removed her head from Rikido's shoulder and stared at him for a few moments as she tried to reach a decision.

"Ok, show me the ropes." Nanae responded imperatively as she looked at Rikido straight in the eyes.

"And so, Nanae originally intended to just learn how to shoot videos but Rikido asked her out a few weeks ago and the two are now...an item." Chinami explained, tapping her fingers against the tabletop, unnerved as the word rolled off her tongue," Nanae hasn't felt like herself lately and I think she just wants feel like she's doing something worthwhile."

Kiriko, Hayase and Tadashi nodded in understanding.

Chinami continued to speak in her best friend's defense, saying," For the record, I'm not upset with you for having a talk with her, Mitarashi. I think she just took it too personally. Nanae might seem like a really bad person sometimes but I swear she means well and I'm sure she'd love to be a part of your newspaper club. Would you like me to ask her about it?"

Tadashi shook his head and answered, "No, it's ok. I think it'd be easier if we took care of it, since we're the ones who are pitching the idea to the princi-"

"-Actually, I think you should come along with us to ask her. Does tomorrow work for you?" Kiriko asked after she clamped Tadashi's mouth shut with her hand, receiving a confused look from Tadashi.

"Yeah, that sounds good! I'll meet up with you guys here after school tomorrow ok?" Chinami declared as she stood up from the bench and gathered her things. She left and waved goodbye to them, with only Kiriko waving back to her.

"Why should she tag along?" Tadashi asked suspiciously once Kiriko drew her hand away from his mouth.

"Well, she is really close with Nanae. She'd probably know better than anyone else about how to get through to her." Kiriko explained candidly before hesitantly saying," And...I don't think she's been talking to Nanae a lot lately since she's been devoting all her time to Rikido. I think Chinami misses her."

Tadashi saw her point and nodded in agreement after a few moments while Kiriko continued to think about Chinami's story.

Chinami stretched and stretched her legs at the front of the track, now wearing her gym clothes and wearing her hair in a low ponytail. She wanted to make sure she'd be top condition for a good, long run and wanted to avoid a leg cramp at all costs. Not only that, Chinami wanted to avoid cramping, so she wouldn't have to lose out her jog where she spent her time just listening to her music and not thinking about her current problems.

Chinami sat still for a few moments and took her hair down from the ponytail, only to put it back into the same style, only tighter. She was zoning out as she thought about Nanae.

It was middle-school and it had been a few weeks since Chinami transferred to this school. Chinami was all by herself, sitting at her desk as she watched her classmates talk amongst each other. Soon class would begin and the attendance would be taken, something that made Chinami always feel unsettled. It wasn't easy being at the top of the list with a weird last name. It made her dread roll call and if anything, it just reminded her how she felt like an outsider amongst her classmates.

"Why did have to move to Japan? Things were so much easier back home..." Chinami thought to herself as she drew a small picture of a cardinal in her notebook. Chinami smiled at the drawing, even if it didn't look as expected. She then started to listen in on her classmates' conversations once they reached a volume that made it impossible for others to tune them out.

"Hey have you guys already picked your partners for the team project? I'm thinking of asking Yasuhiro to be my partner!" One girl whispered to her group of friends.

"You're going to abandon me? Fine, just don't let me get paired up with the new girl. She's so intimidating!" One of the other girls said, with the group beginning to laugh in response.

Chinami's face turned red and she felt frustration overcome her as she tried to tune out the girls. Her heart felt like it was sinking and before she could further dwell on the subject, one of her classmates walked up next to her desk.

"Are you ok?" The girl, a middle-school Nanae, asked her. Chinami was quiet and only nodded in response.

"Abate, right? Did you wanna be my partner for the team project?" Nanae questioned, offering her a genuine smile. Chinami was at a loss of words as she stared down Nanae before she nodded again and said excitedly,

"Absolutely!"

Chinami pressed her hand against the back of her neck, reliving a kind of loneliness she hadn't felt in years. Nanae had always been by her side ever since she moved here. She always threw the best sleepovers, gave Chinami her nickname, and would go as far as threatening to beat up the captain of the male basketball team when he called Chinami aggressive for beating him in a one on one in spite of the fact that Nanae was only five feet and much smaller than the two of them.

Chinami smiled to herself while stretching as she thought of Nanae, saying aloud," She still doesn't even know what charley horse means."

Unbeknownst to her, the patch of electric yellow and periwinkle in her hair had gotten bigger, to the point where even a lower ponytail wasn't doing much good at concealing it.

The next day, Kiriko was sitting at the same bench where she planned to meet Chinami with Hayase and Tadashi and patiently awaited for their arrival, accompanied by the rest of her friends and the fairies sitting on the table.

"You know, I really do appreciate that you guys were all so willing to hear about our student council issue with starting up the newspaper club..." Kiriko began, eyes shut before she took a deep breath," But you guys really didn't need to come with us."

Asuna was loudly drinking a fountain drink she got from the fast food joint down the street while Sophie was scrolling through her emails and Mari was reading a book. It appeared that none of them took notice of Kiriko's irritation as they all waited around.

"Oh, come on! You know we wouldn't hesitate to help out a friend!" Sophie insisted as she gave Kiriko a pat on the back.

"That's really not the point..." Kiriko stated in a forced calm voice as she looked over to see if Chinami was on her way, moments before her phone vibrated in her pocket. Kiriko reached for her phone and noticed she received a message from Tadashi that read,

"You can go on without me, Hayase and Chinami. We're just heading to the pharmacy to pick up a few things."

Kiriko looked at the text suspiciously, her eyes narrowed at her screen before she hesitantly stood up from her seat. She glanced over to her friends and motioned them to follow suite, leading the way to the place where Chinami said they'd find Nanae. Kiriko put her phone away into her pocket, still concerned about the text she just received. Today was supposed to be important, so what business did the three of them have at the pharmacy? Kiriko figured it must've been some sort of emergency, so she decided to stop thinking about it.

Nanae was standing in front of a trampoline being jumped on by Rikido, with his video camera in her hands. Nanae's head was moving up and down with the camera right in front of her as she recorded Rikido jumping and doing tricks on the trampoline. There were a bunch of people at indoor trampoline park, named Hopper's, and it was a dimly lit place with it's rather obnoxious music blaring loudly. Normally, Nanae would've been absolutely repulsed by stepping foot in such a raucous place but being with Rikido made this outing more than worth it. Not only that, watching Rikido jump on the trampoline was quite fun for her. His glasses were being held by Nanae while he jumped and preformed flips.

"You're doing great!" Nanae shouted to him, still moving her head up and down as she filmed.

Rikido quickly flashed her a thumbs-up and stopped jumping. He then stepped off of the trampoline and stepped down to Nanae's level, looking at her with a sheepish expression on his face.

"I hope this wasn't much of a let-down. I really was hoping you were going to be surprised when we came..." Rikido said as he placed his hand behind his head and chuckled.

Nanae was silent for a few moments and then responded with," I'm having fun, I'm glad we came today."

Rikido then grinned and gestured Nanae to give him back his glasses. Nanae gave them back and the two of them took a seat on the nearby benches.

"So, when do you wanna give it a try?" Rikido asked, causing Nanae's eyes to widen greatly in response.

"Um, I think I'll save it for another day, I didn't sleep well last night and my back kinda hurts. How about I go get us something to drink ok?" Nanae offered as she stood up quickly and practically ran to the front of the indoor park.

Nanae leaned against the wall, her gaze to the floor as she muttered to herself,"I could never jump around like that in a place like this! All the other kids would probably find it weird that a girl my size would even think about trying something like that."

Nanae then brought her gaze to the distant trampolines, watching as the abundance of kids jumped on them. It wasn't just kids who were older and bigger than her, younger girls were here jumping about too, but Nanae still didn't seem interested in participating.

"I'm out of my element..." Nanae said to herself, holding back on a sigh. Just then, Nanae heard the door of the building crack open, letting the blinding afternoon light pour into the indoor park. Standing in the doorway were four girls she recognized but the sight of one of them made her mood turn sour.

"What the hell would Nanae be doing in a park full of preteen boys?" Asuna asked as she inspected the area. The place was familiar to her, but it had been years since she stepped foot inside the building. Thankfully it looked the same as it did when she last came.

Kiriko only shook her head at Asuna's response,"I doubt she came here willingly."

"What is she doing here?" Nanae spat angrily as she narrowed her eyes at Kiriko.

Meanwhile, Chinami, Hayase, and Tadashi were at the pharmacy. Tadashi and Hayase were waiting on only Chinami now, the girl claiming she wouldn't be long and walked deeper into the store. Tadashi leaned against the wall, holding a bag full of candy in hand as he looked around, hoping Chinami would appear.

"She's taking way too long, how's about one of us go check on her?" Tadashi suggested to Hayase, who seemed to have little interest in the idea.

"Who's going to go?" Hayase asked, lifting his gaze from his phone screen. Tadashi then held his hand in a fist, hoping that Hayase would catch on.

The two played a game of rock-paper-scissors and it was Tadashi who lost by drawing rock while Hayase chose paper. Tadashi frowned at his hand balled into a fist and exasperated a deep sigh.

"Fine, I guess I'll go." Tadashi declared with a scoff as he cautiously walked into the store in search of Chinami.

Chinami wasn't anywhere to be found in the suspected aisles she'd be in. The longer it took to find her, the more frustrated Tadashi grew. There weren't even a lot of people in the pharmacy so it wasn't like he could've overseen her. Tadashi admitted defeat and walked back to the store front under the belief that Chinami was already there. But as he walked to the front, he found Chinami perched in front of a row full of hair-dye holding two boxes of what appeared to be hair-dye in her hands.

"I was lucky that they actually had the root touch-up can in my shade but...which one actually matches my hair? The dark golden brown or the chocolate brown?" Chinami asked herself nervously as she looked at the two boxes, debating on whether to just buy the both of them as she adjusted the baseball cap on her head.

"Um, Chinami?" Tadashi said, startling the girl greatly," Are you ready to go?"

Chinami stood up in an instant and just picked the darker shade, as she sputtered out," Yes!"

The two of them walked awkwardly to the cash register with neither of them saying a word to the other. Chinami felt so embarrassed she could feel her whole face turn red while Tadashi only wondered what her natural hair colour was.

"Fat chance, Vice-pres!" Nanae declared, folding her arms and shaking her head. She, Kiriko and the rest of the group were outside now and Kiriko had just explained the whole newspaper ordeal in Hayase's absence. Kiriko hadn't prepared for something like this and was silently cursing herself for not doing so.

"I don't want anything to do with your dumb newspaper club! I'll have you know I'm a changed woman and I don't need to be a news outlet to feel useful." Nanae declared, though saying those words aloud made her heart sink.

"But, Nanae, there's no other person we would want to lead the club!" Kiriko explained, but Nanae wasn't buying into it.

Nanae was about to leave the group but just then, Jack appeared right before her, floating a few feet off the ground and grinned wildly at the sight of Nanae's Patchwork heart.

"Wow, your Patchwork Heart is full of agony and anguish! I don't think I've ever seen a one quite like it." Jack remarked as held out a black diamond, only for it to get shot for out of his hands by a pencil case getting thrown at his hand. The black diamond shattered upon making contact with the ground, and he looked at the ground covered in the diamond's fragments.

Nanae was about to run off in the other direction, but tripped on her own feet and just remained in place, petrified by her own fear.

"That's too bad." Jack stated as he looked at the broken diamond," I guess it really was smart of me to come with an ace up my sleeve!"

Nanae was overwhelmed and fainted in an instant and Jack then made what seemed to be a miniature Defective made from a wind-up toy appear in the palm of his hands. He tossed the toy up in the air and it grew ten times bigger and towered over the girls. The girls took a few steps back and suddenly heard a familiar voice shout out,

"You better stay away from my friend!"

The team turned around and saw Chinami standing a few feet behind them. She glared at Jack and balled her hands into fists while Jack only scoffed at the sight of her.

"Who's going to stop me? You, a weak and good for nothing-" Jack said, but stopped in mid-sentence as he noticed something going on around Chinami. He felt an immeasurable form of magic seeping out from her. The magic was nothing like the kind that came from an earthling and figuring put what this meant got Jack very excited.

"Don't tell your one of the migratories!" Jack exclaimed as the wind-up Defective stared to walk towards her.

Kiriko then shouted out, "Chinami, you have to leave-!"

"Not happening." Chinami declared as she walked ahead of them, her gaze set on the Defective," I'm going to save my Nanae!"

"You can't do that though!" Sophie reminded her," You'll only get hurt if you try and fi-"

"-Fine, if you insist! But just know, Nanae's safety lies in your hands." Asuna declared in an oddly dramatic voice that everyone except Chinami noticed. All heads turned to Asuna and she then motioned them towards the side of the building and held her transformation item to explain herself. The girls went along with Asuna's plan and all held their PlayPacts up high, shouting in unison,

"Pretty Cure, it's Playtime!"

""The princess of wishes, Cure Dolly!"

"The dame of courage, Cure Teddy!"

"The sailor of justice, Cure Bubbly!"

"The creator of dreams, Cure Fantasy!"

"When evil is near, playtime is here! Together we are..." The girls said in unison," Toychest Pretty Cure!"

Dolly led the group and practically bolted back to the scene once they completed their transformation, worried about what might've happened to Chinami in their absence. When they returned, Dolly and the rest of the team was surprised to see that Chinami had remained unscathed and it appeared the two were only staring each down right now.

Dolly then cleared her throat and called out to Chinami," We can see that you want to save your friend but it's ok, we're here to help and-"

"-I don't want your help!" Chinami shouted as she took a deep breath, surprising Dolly once more. The blonde Cure really wanted to argue her point but, somehow it felt as if her cries were going to fall on deaf ears.

"We have to get her out of here somehow, before she gets seriously hurt!" Fantasy whispered into Dolly's ear, with Dolly nodding in response. Just then, the Defective darted towards Chinami and lifted her off the ground, holding her up high while she writhed about in it's grip.

"Remove her hand." Jack declared imperatively, as he took on a lounging position while floating. The Defective did as told and revealed that Chinami's hair was streaked with vivid hues of periwinkle and electric yellow.

"Wow, my first encounter with one of the migratory, how delightful." Jack mused as he watched Chinami tried to break free from the Defective's grip," Lemme guess, your magic seal broke and now you think you've got access to boundless powers?"

The Defective's grip got tighter and Chinami winced at the pain while Jack said,"And to think you believed you could save your friend too? Oh, it's so cute and admirable, too bad it's nothing more than a fantasy."

"I will save Nanae..." Chinami said quietly, as she took a deep breath and shut her eyes. Just then, Chinami's magic started to flow out again, and this time, it felt a whole stronger. Everyone in the vicinity could feel her magic and all eyes were Chinami now.

Jack appeared less calm and watched Chinami in agitation as he started to ramble, saying," Even if you've got access to your powers now, you're only one person and my Defective can defeat hundreds, no, thousands, of people! Not to mention, from what I can tell, you're just a rookie and I doubt you could even do any damage to my Defecti-"

"Let my friend go!" Chinami shouted as mass of volts emerged from out of her and towards the Defective. The Defective felt as if it had been electrocuted and let go of Chinami out of reflex.

Bubbly then took a step forward and extended her hand out as she yelled," Pretty Cure, bubbling impact!"

The attack broke Chinami's fall and the Cures ran over to her see if she was ok. The Cures wore very impressed looks on their faces as they looked at Chinami, who only smiled weakly to the girls. She was exhausted from that attack and knew she had done all she could.

"I overestimated my powers, can you guys take it from here?" Chinami asked as she took deep breaths to calm herself down.

The Cures nodded in response with Dolly saying," Absolutely, you just hang in there, and we'll save Na- your friend, ok?"

Chinami nodded and folded her arms to put her head on top of them. She fell asleep moments after and the Cures took over the fight. The Cures broke into two teams and ran towards the Defective.

Dolly leapt up very high and did a somersault in midair, holding her hands in front of herself as she shouted," Pretty Cure, Wishful cyclone!"

A powerful violet whirlwind emerged from out of Dolly's hands and hit the Defective square on. The Defective seemed to have been dealt a lot of damage as it uncontrollably shook about, but it's feet were planted firmly on the ground.

Dolly frowned at the sight once she landed back onto the ground next to Teddy and then said," It seems relatively weaker now thanks to Chinami but, it's quite persistent."

"It's isn't putting up much of a fight either." Teddy pointed out as the two of them watched Bubbly and Fantasy engage in a rather one-sided battle against the Defective.

Jack was quite aggravated at the sight of his Defective doing nothing in this fight against the Pretty Cure and spun around his index finger, causing the gear on the Defective to wind up again. The Defective regained mobility and started to speed walk towards the Pretty Cure.

"All we need to do is just break off the gear..." Dolly and Teddy thought to themselves. The two of them didn't even bother to relay their ideas to each and went straight into the attack, but the Defective was a lot quicker than they thought. The Defective knelt down and picked up the two of them in an instant. Dolly and Teddy were both held tight in the grip of the Defective, leaving only Bubbly and Fantasy able to fight.

"Why do you think they were running to the back of the Defective like that?" Bubbly asked as the two of them watched their teammates writhe around in the Defective's grip. Fantasy had a few ideas in mind as to why, but soon figured out their reason once she made eye-contact with Cure Teddy and saw doing a breaking motion with her hands. Fantasy then tried to devise a plan in the little amount of time she had.

Fantasy then whispered into Bubbly's ear and Bubbly nodded in understanding, saying only," Are you sure that can work though?"

"It's worth a shot." Fantasy said to her as she offered her hands to Bubbly. Fantasy and Bubbly joined both their hands for a few moments, with each Cure concentrating her powers into her palm. Bubbly's hands were feeling a lot cooler now and the Cures let go broke hold of one pair of their hands. Fantasy then swung Bubbly and sent her flying towards the Defective.

Bubbly then held both of her hands in front of herself and shouted," Ice to meet ya!"

Chunks of ice sprouted out from her hands and froze all of the Defective, except for it's arms, in a block of ice. Bubbly then jumped up and went behind the Defective, smashing her heel against the gear and snapping it off.

Dolly and Teddy were able to free themselves from the Defectives clutch and the Defective then fell over, unable to move anymore.

"Let's finish this off!" Dolly declared, with her teammates nodding in response.

"Pretty Cure Playtime Party!" The four of them shouted in unison as a kaleidoscope of lights appeared around them. The Defective was cleansed and returned to it's original form.

"Ooh I'm so sick of you Pretty Cure showing up and ruining everything! One of these days you're gonna regret ever meeting us at Asperity, after all, we have the Well of Wonder in our possession now," Jack declared gallantly as he folded his arms," It's only a matter of time before we end things here."

Dolly was shocked, so shocked that she impulsively gasped and held her hand over her mouth, but Teddy didn't seem as surprised.

"If you guys really have the well then how come you're still playing games with us?" Teddy questioned without hesitation," What you're doing sure seems like a waste of your time."

Jack was rather irritated by her response and impatiently said," We're not wasting our time! We're just...we're collecting important stuff!"

Within an instant, he disappeared and the Cures were left speechless, unsure of what to believe as they stared at the spot Jack once vacated. Teddy, Bubbly and Fantasy exchanged

nervous expressions amongst each other, but Dolly was simply looking at the ground in deep thought.

"I think...I think he was talking about the magic from inside the well." Dolly said as she glanced over to her teammates.

Once the girls reversed their transformations, they looked over to Chinami. They were all unwilling to mention the elephant in the room and so, they only exchanged uneasy expressions before Kiriko finally said in a forcefully casual voice,

"Who would've guessed she's from the kingdom?"

Rani and Nova were watching over Chinami, with the girls sitting a few feet away in case Chinami woke up. Nanae had already recovered and the girls convinced her to go home for the day, claiming that Chinami already left.

"She may've dealt some damage to the Defective today, but that doesn't mean her powers are on par with the Pretty Cure..." Rani stated as she watched over Chinami,"In this instance, I believe Chinami's attack was like a release of pent-up emotions, so that was why they were so strong."

Chinami then stirred and finally woke up. She sat upright and the Cures hid behind a fence, leaving only Rani and Nova in her line of sight. Nobody said a word for a few solid moments and Chinami just stared at the fairies anxiously, knowing very well they weren't regular plush toys.

"What are creatures like you doing here on Earth?" Chinami asked in concern as she leaned in close to get a better look at them.

"We're with the Pretty Cure." Nova stated curtly," We noticed that you have a broken seal, did you want it fixed?"

"Huh? Oh, well...it didn't get broken, it was lifted..." Chinami responded before she took a glance at her hair," My parents knew that there was trouble going on these last few weeks, and they thought I should try and protect myself through my magic. It isn't exceptional or anything, but they thought it'd catch the bad guys off guard, which it did. But, yeah I think I've had enough of these powers for a while, I'd be better off having them sealed up again."

Rani and Nova nodded in understanding with the former saying,"If you'd like, we could restore the seal on your powers."

Chinami had to think about it for a few moments, and then she nodded her head as she said," Go ahead."

Rani and Nova sat on either side of Chinami and started to chant strange foreign words for a few minutes. It was mesmerizing and surreal to the girls who had never seen anything quite like this. Sparkles of purple and yellow flowed faintly around Chinami in a circle. Her hair was slowly reverting back to its usual dark brown colour as time passed. After about ten minutes, the process was complete and Chinami was back to her normal self.

"Thank you very much, I'm glad I don't have to deal with all that stress that came with hiding my powers. I owe you two big time." Chinami said as she stood up," I'll see you around ok?"

Rani and Nova nodded and Chinami waved goodbye to them as she walked home.

Chinami's walk home was a quiet one for the most part. At least it was until she reached her halfway point and her phone began to ring. Chinami checked her phone and found that it was Nanae and that this wasn't the first time she called this afternoon. Nanae had called her about eight times an hour ago too.

Chinami then anxiously picked up the phone and braced herself as she gingerly put in her headphones, not even getting a chance to say hello as Nanae was already talking.

"Please tell you're safe and sound! I had the absolute worst dream when I got knocked out at the trampoline place! You had crazy hair and you were fighting against this huge monster and you almost got killled and then-!"

"I'm ok, don't worry about it." Chinami affirmed with a chuckle as a pained smile appeared on her face," It was only a dream."

"You better be! Because if you got hurt I..." Nanae trailed off unsurely and let a sigh escape her lips," I missed you a lot these last few weeks, can we be friends again? Please, Chiara?"

Chinami was surprised to hear Nanae pulling out the formalities but she knew it was only because she was that serious about her plea.

"We didn't stop being friends, so don't ask silly things like that." Chinami answered confidently.

Elsewhere, on the other side of town, a woman wearing a kimono styled dress that reached her knees walked around town, feeling like a fish out of water. The sun was too bright, the air was quite dry and there were too many loud noises. She had gotten so accustomed to pure silence that anything else would only give her headaches. But still, the headache wasn't the worst of her problems. The familiarity of this place annoyed her and trying to understand what brought on this feeling only made her headache worse.

"Who is that woman to me? Why does she trust me so much, even though we haven't known each other for long?" The woman asked herself as she continued to walk,"What am I doing here?"