Ophelia was gathering flowers in the sanctuary, planning to string them together to make a flower crown of sorts, but she felt disoriented when she picked the flowers. Actually, she had been feeling bit off and unlike herself ever since the Pretty Cure came. When the girls had arrived, Ophelia offered to fight against Cure Teddy but for some reason, Niles picked her over the team's leader and the thought of it didn't stop bothering her. Well, it wasn't just the fact that he chose Teddy over Dolly, it was the firm, unwavering tone he used when he said it. Along with the smallest, brash, smile arising to his face, an expression that Niles almost never made, to the point that Ophelia thought he became physically incapable of it. Ophelia continuously wondered what was it about Teddy that made Niles do that. She knew there was only one reason, but she didn't want to accept it. Ophelia hung her head and gripped the collection of flowers in her hands.
"She fights like Cure Cheer." Ophelia thought to herself," Niles would do anything to be with her, even if it's just fighting a girl who reminds him of her."
Ophelia then dropped the flowers in her hands and looked towards the vast field in the sanctuary.
"I remember staring at you for long periods of time, taking great care to memorize every single detail so that if we were to ever separate, I could still envision you next to me.
I wanted to remember it all, your pale skin like delicate porcelain, cold to the touch yet so pleasing to the eye, your light blue hair, slightly wavy and always styled to cover your left eye completely, and the indifferent look in your grey-blue eyes. It was unchanging and any other emotion was absent from it. Not once had I ever seen you grieve, express relief or joy. That is, when you weren't speaking about her."
"Niles, let's get married." I remember saying to you when I was younger. I was completely under your spell, entranced by your being and yet, you never seemed pleased with anything I did.
"There are more important things to do." You'd respond with, voice fully toneless as you reached for an apple on the largest tree in the sanctuary. You gave it to me and I just clutched it tightly before saying,
"I love you Niles."
You kneeled down to look me in the eyes but I could never tell what you were feeling when that I different stare went missing. You ran a hand that felt out of place through my hair and simply said in a quiet voice,
"I...I love you too."
A lie.
"Whenever you spoke of Cheer, your face lit up, it was as if you were a completely different person. You would speak of her from time to time and there had been moments where I could tell you had been thinking about her just from the look on your face.
You never said those words regarding her either, but I knew. I knew she was the one you were in love with."
Ophelia then picked up one flower, an orange geranium, and cupped it in her hands.
"Surely he wouldn't be so mad to start falling for that girl, heaven knows she has her own life on earth." Ophelia mused to herself as she crushed the flower in her hands," Even if the Toychest Pretty Cure are strong, this mission will never be as important to them as it was to Cure Cheer."
Asuna sneezed a loud sneeze on the bus and didn't even cover her nose when doing so, much to Reo and Yutaro's chagrin. Asuna thought nothing of it until her gaze met the boys. She raised her eyebrows in suspicion and the boys wore matching unimpressed looks on their faces.
"Catching a cold?" Reo asked her.
"No," Asuna answered indifferently while she searched for a tissue in her backpack.
"Maybe someone's been talking about you." Yutaro suggested, though Asuna didn't seem to agree," By the way, didn't we pass your stop? Like awhile ago?"
"Oh, I'm seeing an old friend today." Asuna stated, as she looked out the bus window before pulling the cord," I'll see you guys tomorrow, ok?"
The boys nodded and Asuna exited the bus once it arrived to her stop. When Asuna parted ways with the boys, she grew tense and uncomfortable, feeling out of place in a neighborhood she hadn't visited in nearly a year. But, she felt the need to come, she had to vent to him and reminisce with him, relish in those memories long past, even if she couldn't tell him the whole truth. She started walking into a street near to the bus stop, but the more she walked, the more her stomach began to tie itself up in knots. It got unbearable quickly and soon enough, Asuna stopped walking and switched directions, heading back to the bus stop.
When she reached the head of the street, she noticed a park on the opposite side of the road, so she walked over there to kill some time at the park. Asuna took a seat on a bench and the edge of the park and drew out a very long sigh.
"How can Tadashi do this so easily?" Asuna wondered out long as she took off her sweater," I thought if I could talk about this stuff with dad, I'd feel at ease, but how do I plan on doing that when I'm too nervous to show up uninvited?"
"Um, Teddy?" Dolly began awkwardly," About that...event..."
Teddy closed her eyes and only said," The figure was talking about my biggest regret. It cost me something very special, and I'm not sure if I can ever restore things to the way they used to be."
"I've tried pushing that thought away to the back of my mind hundreds of times but no matter what I do, it always finds a way to emerge and overwhelm me with this feeling that I don't want to have, not for him at least." Asuna said quietly as she laid down on the bench," I don't these feelings anymore, not when they're no longer mutual. But..."
Asuna thought of him, feeling confused and frustrated, wondering how she could let things come to this. She missed when they were friends, she missed those times when they'd all hang out, when there wasn't any student council, and Asuna hadn't messed things up between them. She didn't expect herself to admit to this feeling, and just assumed it'd disappear over time, but it persisted and that incident at the dollhouse only showed her that it meant more to her than she realized.
She missed Hayase.
"Just how do you feel towards me?" Asuna asked quietly. Hayase was confusing in the sense that sometimes, he treated her like an outsider but when they were alone, no classmates, no other student councils members except Tadashi, that's when things felt somewhat normal, but still off.
"Is he ashamed? Have we become so different that he no longer wants anything to do with me?" Asuna thought to herself," Maybe he thinks he's too good for me now."
Hayase was never really like that when they were kids, he wouldn't let a prestigious title get to his head so why did that happen now? Or, maybe that wasn't really the case, maybe he just didn't want anything to do with Asuna because of what she did to him. She didn't want to think that, even though she knew that was likely the case.
It was around grade one and a new family moved into the neighbourhood. A mom, a dad and two boys occupied the house that had been sold weeks ago. The eldest was five years older than Asuna and the younger was two years older, the same age as her brother. The eldest was adventurous and free-spirited, he loved to roam the playgrounds and streets of the neighbourhood, especially when his mom had yet to give him permission. Always wearing a bright smile on his face, he was a boy who was somewhat tall for his age and never failed to make Asuna, or anyone in this case, smile with him. His name was Toya.
The younger boy was a lot quieter, but just as kind. He always wore this apprehensive look on his face when meeting new people but tried to hide his fear with a rather awkward smile. It may have made some people feel at ease around him, but his all-telling, bright blue-green eyes couldn't ever be ignored. His name was Hayase.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Mitarashi, we thought we'd welcome you into the neighbourhood with a little housewarming gift." Asuna's mom said as she, Asuna, Tadashi and their father stood at the new neighbourhood's doorstep. Her mom held out a cake and Miss Mitarashi at the door took it carefully, inspecting the top of the undecorated cake.
"Hope you like Devil's chocolate." Her mom added, while Miss Mitarashi ushered them into the house.
"Please, call me Hana." Miss Mitarashi said as she led the family to the living room while she put away the cake in the kitchen.
Sitting on the farthest couch in the kitchen were Hana's sons, staring intently at the family. Neither of them said a word, making the parents feel somewhat uncomfortable. But the kids seemed just fine, staring back at them. When Hana returned, she brought cups of green tea for herself and Asuna's parents and took a seat on the chair opposite to them.
"So, we bumped into your husband the other day, he was explaining how you guys just moved from Sendai. I guess Yanagizawa is a lot different in comparison, huh?" Asuna's dad asked.
Hana took a brief pause from sipping her green tea and said," I guess so, though we in truth hadn't lived in Sendai too long. We had to live abroad for a long time."
Hana then took notice of her children staring holes into the Morino family, laughing awkwardly as she put down her cup of tea.
"Boys, how about you go play with the two of them upstairs?" Hana suggested to them. Toya seemed more than willing, literally jumping up from his seat and rushing towards Asuna and Tadashi to grab their hands and lead them upstairs, while Hayase appeared a bit more cautious and followed behind the three of them.
Toya showed off his bedroom to Asuna and Tadashi, despite the fact that it hadn't been fully made yet with a set of moving boxes still littering the bedroom. Despite the mess from the moving, Toya was proud to present his new bedroom, since it was the first room he didn't have to share.
"I like your room!" Tadashi commented as he looked at the glow-in-the-dark stars stuck up on the ceiling," Got any toys?"
"Of course I do!" Toya answered as he grabbed the box of toys in the corner of the room. It looked as if he was going to say something more, but one glance at his brother made him keep quiet. Tadashi and Asuna started looking through all the toys that Toya had.
"Wow, I never even seen some of these guys before!" Tadashi remarked as he held up an action figure he didn't recognize, admiring the large toy in his hands.
"Our dad works for a toy company, so sometimes we get some of the new stuff before they come out." Hayase explained softly, keeping a safe distance from the three of them.
Asuna seemed a bit startled, as it was the first time she heard the younger boy speak. She had been starting to think he wasn't able to up until now. After he spoke up, Hayase had a nervous look on his face and his gaze fell to the floor.
"Do you have any of your own toys?" Asuna asked him curiously. Hayase nodded quickly and stood up, leading her out of Toya's bedroom.
The two of them were now in Hayase's bedroom, which needed a bit more unpacking than Toya's. Hayase lifted up the flap of a box that was sitting at the foot of his bed and Asuna found a mass of toys inside. All of them looked really cool and there were more action figures than she could count. But then, she noticed something sitting at the top of Hayase's bed.
"Hey it's a teddy bear!" Asuna exclaimed as she bolted up and grabbed the bear off of the bed. The bear was really cute, it's fur a very pale brown that could've easily been mistaken for white. The bear's belly was tan and it wore a shiny gold ribbon around its neck. The bear was also quite soft too, and Asuna really liked the feel of the bear's fur.
She looked into the bear's eyes, a kind expression on it's face and then towards Hayase.
"Is he yours?" Asuna asked him, who nodded in return," He looks really nice. I like teddy bears a lot, do you?"
"Yeah, I like them a lot too." Hayase responded, a shy smile rising to his face.
"Hayase was fun to be around, not just because he also liked teddy bears. After getting to know him better, it was easy to see that Hayase was smart and really insightful. It wasn't long until he was smiling and laughing as much as his brother when we'd come over to play. He was always sure to have the best spot to hide during games of hide and seek with the rest of the kids from the neighbourhood and you could tell there was something different about him, in a good way.
I wasn't that good at making friends when I was younger, I wasn't interested in talking to the other kids at school, but somehow they still liked me. But I always had the most fun when playing with Tadashi and Hayase. Maybe it was only me thinking this at the time, but I always felt like we were kinda like puzzle pieces."
A younger Asuna was seen at the playground making a sand-castle on her own, while a group of girls a couple feet away from her played with their dolls. Asuna only stared at them for a couple of moments and then returned to her sand-castle building, though she seemed a bit distraught.
"We were puzzle pieces that had no other pieces to fit with...but thankfully, we had each other."
Growing up together meant that it was easy to read each other, and it was obvious when someone among the three of them was lying, or simply hiding something. Since Tadashi got to spend a bit more time with Hayase, it took him almost no time to figure out when Hayase started to have feelings for a certain someone. Though, to find out who it was had been tricky.
It was middle school and Hayase was always good at paying attention in class, much unlike his best friend Tadashi. But these last few weeks, Tadashi started to notice something was amiss with his best friend. His recently bespectacled best friend was often day-dreaming in class these days and it seemed wherever his mind was drifting off, it was making him happy with the giant smile on his face when a new lesson was getting taught in class. Sure, Hayase didn't necessarily hate school, but that look on his face clearly wasn't meant for their lecture on the structure of animal cells.
"He's crushing on someone, but the question is who?" Tadashi thought to himself as he watched Hayase gaze off into space.
Tadashi then took a quick look around the class and studied his female classmates to see which girl would've most likely been Hayase's crush. Bookworm Ume, sitting on the opposite end of the classroom, was kinda cute and totally Hayase's type, but those two hadn't ever spoke to each other. Captain of the girls' soccer club Asami had received help from Hayase a few times with school work, but the girl was so out of his league. And then there was that one girl, Kiyoko, who absolutely loved baking and was nice to literally everyone, especially Hayase. But Hayase never really seemed interested in her. Tadashi sighed loudly, garnering an irritated look from his teacher and burrowed his head into his textbook. He decided to just ask Hayase about it after class.
"No, I'm not crushing on any of the girls in class." Hayase declared, a blank look on his face while Tadashi groaned. The two of them were walking home together and Hayase kept quiet while Tadashi lamented to him.
"Seriously? I was so sure that something has been off with you, you had that lovestruck look on your face in class! So why would you-?" Tadashi said, stopping himself in mid-sentence, before a realization dawned on him," She's not in our class, is she?"
Hayase's eyes opened wide, his gaze fixed on the road ahead of him while he face turned slightly red. Tadashi then laughed and started shaking Hayase excitedly, saying,
"Dude this is big! Your first crush on somebody! Who is it? Come on, you gotta tell me! Is she in the next door class, a sports team, older girl, younger?"
Hayase opened his mouth and closed it promptly, as a look appeared on his face that Tadashi wasn't able to read. Hayase smiled, but it wasn't like the same smile he had on his face earlier. It was similar though, yet had a trace of guilt to it.
"You already know her." Hayase stated as he drew out a sigh before that lovestruck smile appeared on his face again.
Tadashi expected himself to get more psyched out than he already was, to be feeling over the moon for his best friend, but, he wasn't fully sure what he was feeling. Was it a mixture of happiness for his friend and confusion with a hint of disgust sprinkled in? Most likely, but, there was something in that look on Hayase's face that only made the feeling of happiness survive.
"That's great, really. I think you got a chance with her." Tadashi stated as he a put a hand on Hayase's shoulder.
During the next couple of months, Tadashi did everything he could to get Hayase and Asuna closer, be it physically or figuratively, he wasn't picky, only determined to help his friend out. Tadashi surmised that asking her out now would've been way too soon, even if they had known each other for years. In order for Hayase to be successful here, he needed more time with just Asuna, doing more than playing with action figures and trying to beat each other in video games. Tadashi tried convincing him to do other stuff like give her compliments, but Hayase wasn't quite good at that, so instead he decided to let his actions speak for him instead.
Hayase helped her out with her homework quite often and offered to stay back after his club to walk Asuna home from hers. It was never hard to talk to Asuna, originally Hayase pictured himself tongue-tied right in front of her, unable to string together a coherent sentence but instead, it didn't feel as if much had changed. It was pleasant, but somewhat unsatisfying.
Then February rolled in, and as the two were walking home from their clubs together, they saw a couple kissing in the rain. Hayase quickly turned red as a thought crossed his mind but Asuna only rolled her eyes and made a quiet gagging sound.
"That's so gross! I get you're dating, you don't need to let every single person on earth know." Asuna claimed as she crossed her arms. Hayase chuckled at Asuna's disgust, but then, he thought about what she said. Single, she mentioned single. Usually Asuna didn't really make puns, and it could've been a coincidence, but Asuna seemed a bit down once they passed the couple.
"You don't have plans for Valentine's Day, do you?" Hayase asked her in a forcefully casual voice. Asuna laughed awkwardly and shook her head, trying to rid her face of her that upset look with little avail.
"Nah, why would I? Valentine's Day is just for some dumb couples who wanna show off how in love they are. It's nothing special." Asuna claimed, before she lowered her head," You have any plans?"
Hayase shook his head and Asuna then had an idea arrive in her mind.
"Let's do something for Valentine's Day!" Asuna suggested excitedly," We'll order the biggest pizza we can get and play video games at my house all night!"
Hayase's eyes were opened wide and he vigorously nodded in response.
Their plan was to meet up after school and then to walk to their favourite pizza place to order a gigantic pizza, just for the two of them. Afterwards, they were going to head over to Asuna's house and start playing the new game that came out recently which Tadashi received for his birthday last month. Hayase had brought some of his own games from home too and couldn't wait for the end of the school day.
Hayase was putting his books away in his bag, and thinking back to the day Asuna and him made their Valentine's Day plans. Asuna probably didn't want to admit, but she appeared a bit jealous of the couple they passed on the street that day. Maybe today was just her way of feeling included, even if she wasn't spending it with a boyfriend. Hayase only hoped he'd be enough for her.
Hayase then looked over to the empty seat next to him and stared at it for a few moments. Tadashi got food poisoning and hadn't been to school in days, but Asuna said that he had been getting better, so they weren't going to trouble him much with their plans today. Plus, the last thing Tadashi wanted was to ruin something as big as this. Hayase then walked over to the spot that Asuna promised to meet up with him, feeling himself grow more excited as time went on. Today would've also been the first time in about a week since they had seen each other since Asuna had been busy this week. Hayase could just picture Asuna, working hard at her volleyball club, putting in extra those extra hours for their upcoming game.
He finally reached the place that Asuna told him to meet her at and waited for her to arrive. The area was nice and quiet, a lot less populated than usual since it was a Friday afternoon. He was patient, but before he knew it, a couple of minutes turn into half an hour quickly. Things were starting to look suspicious, but Hayase wasn't sure of what might have happened. Hayase didn't want to leave the spot just in case Asuna came, so he waited some more. An hour passed by and now, Hayase felt like he didn't have any other choice but to leave. And so, Hayase walked home dejectedly, trying to figure out what could've made Asuna miss out on their plans today. Could she somehow have contracted food poisoning from her brother? Or maybe she got called in for another volleyball practice. The possibility of her simply ditching did cross his mind but, it didn't make sense when Asuna had seemed so excited for today.
Hayase's mind was swimming and he looked up to the sky, noticing that it looked like it would rain soon. So he walked to the bus stop near the school and looked past all the stores completely decorated in red and pink hearts. There was one cafe that hadn't been done up at all, but the inside of it was definitely much more decorated than any other store in the vicinity. It was both mesmerizing and painful to look at from outside. Hayase then noticed a couple near the center of the cafe, holding hands and talking, laughing with each other as they waited for their orders. The boy he wasn't able to recognize and wished the same had gone for the girl.
Hayase was in sheer disbelief and stood there, frozen in place, wanting so desperately to just run away as far as he could. But, he didn't want to be so quick to accuse, so he tried to be reasonable, though it wasn't getting him anywhere. All he was able to do from being rational was figure out why he hadn't heard from Asuna in days.
When Hayase got home, his mom told him there was a message on the answering machine that had been there since last night, so immediately he went to listen to it.
"Hey Hayase, I'm not able to have you over tomorrow, um something kinda just came up ok? I'll see you around." Asuna said curtly over the phone.
Hayase shook his head, she didn't want to even tell him about her date at the cafe.
It was his fault, he wasn't quick enough. Hayase didn't expect Asuna to be interested in anyone so instead, he just tried to make things last as long as they could, in deep fear of rejection. It's not as if Asuna knew anyways.
"How are you holding up?" Tadashi asked Hayase on the phone a few minutes later. Hayase took the phone upstairs to his room and was lying flat on his bed, still in denial of what happened.
"She was with someone else. Some other guy I didn't know and they were at a cafe and holding hands and laughing and..." Hayase trailed off, in realization that he was rambling and only sighed,"You said I had a chance."
"I didn't know Asuna was seeing this guy, and it's not like they'll last forever." Tadashi pointed out between coughs," For now I'd say just take a break from her. Sooner or later, she'll come around."
"Maybe, but I shouldn't be upset over something like this. She doesn't know how I feel about her anyways." Hayase stated.
Hayase expected to hear some kinda agreement from Tadashi, but nothing was said. He could telling Tadashi was still on the line though, only making his suspicions grow stronger.
"Tadashi?"
"Ok, fine! She knew, but kept her mouth shut about it." Tadashi confessed.
"I'm not a good person, I haven't ever been and probably won't ever be a good person. I don't do things for others, only myself. Everything I do is for entertainment, and nothing else." Asuna thought to herself on the bench, sitting upside on it now," I don't make good choices and that made Hayase sick of me. I shouldn't blame him, I had it coming."
"But...even I don't deserved to be treated like a stranger, I didn't...I never meant to..." Just then, Asuna's phone started to ring and quickly she answered it.
"Hey," Asuna greeted over the phone.
"Asuna, we got trouble at the playground near the school, can you get here soon?" Kiriko asked in a panic over the phone.
"Of course," Asuna responded quickly before she hung up and ran to the bus stop, trying to catch the bus that just arrived.
Kiriko was standing next to Mari and the two of them could be found at the side of the school, watching the Defective made from a backpack chase students away from the school. Mari held out her PlayPact and Kiriko followed suite, while saying,
"I'm so sorry about this, Tadashi."
Meanwhile, Sophie just arrived in front of the school, with her PlayPact in hand. Luckily for her, she had no trouble finding the Defective, or her fellow teammates fighting against it, but she noticed that something, or rather someone was missing. Sophie looked around the school yard before entering and discovered that Teddy was nowhere to be found. Just then, a bus on the opposite side of the road pulled up and Asuna could be found running towards the school with her PlayPact in hand.
"Asuna, where have you been?" Sophie asked as Asuna approached her and joined her in hiding by the fence along the school.
Asuna didn't make eye-contact, keeping her gaze on the fight as she curtly said," I was going over to my dad's house today. Ready?"
Sophie nodded and the two of them held their PlayPacts up high, shouting in unison," Pretty Cure, it's Playtime!"
"The dame of courage, Cure Teddy!" Teddy announced.
"The sailor of justice, Cure Bubbly!" Bubbly announced.
The two Cures ran to the scene and joined Dolly and Fantasy in fighting against the Defective. Teddy sprinted towards the Defective and held her hands in front of herself as she drew closer to the Defective.
"Pretty Cure, flame of hope!" Teddy shouted. Flames erupted out from her hands and her attack was relentless against the Defective, covering it a mass of flames that didn't diminish very easily. Teddy seemed proud of her attack, but Dolly and Fantasy appeared to be a bit worried. Bubbly wasn't even getting a chance to fight against the Defective because of Teddy and regrouped with the rest of her team.
"Should we tell her that the Defective was made from Tadashi?" Fantasy whispered to Dolly. Dolly wore an unsure look on her face for a few moments, her gaze still fixated on the fight between Teddy and the Defective. She only shook her head in response moments later.
"Don't you think that's a bit cruel?" Bubbly pointed out to her.
"Well, she might not be as...aggressive if we tell her otherwise." Dolly stated, moments before Teddy tossed the Defective into the school building. Bubbly and Fantasy stared at the Defective sliding down against the wall, mouths agape while Dolly had flinched and turned her head away from the sight, unwilling to see what kind of damage had been dealt to the building. Teddy however had seemed like she had been having fun, only this time, she appeared to be a lot more impulsive in her actions.
"You really think she wouldn't stay aggressive if you told her? She's always aggressive." Bubbly reminded her flatly," Anyways, who even summoned this Defective?"
Dolly and Fantasy only offered her matching blank expressions, with the latter answering with," We don't know. It just appeared out of nowhere."
Bubbly seemed confused and she wanted to try to rationalize this but, the girls seemed just as confused as her so she put the topic to rest while her fellow Cures rejoined the battle. Dolly ran as fast as she could towards the fight and saw Teddy trying to do yet another attack made from fire. Dolly sighed and almost gave her teammate a nod of disapproval, not like she would've seen it though, she had been way too immersed in her fight against the Defective and Teddy herself had probably lost count of how many times she preformed that attack.
Teddy jumped up and extended out her right hand, expecting yet another mass of flames to shoot out from them. But nothing had appeared. The smile on Teddy's face instantly disappeared and she looked at her hand curiously before the Defective grabbed a hold of her and tossed the Cure clad in brown across the schoolyard.
"Don't worry, I got you!" Fantasy reassured as she stood with her feet firmly on the ground, bracing herself for the impact of Teddy being thrown towards her. But, despite her efforts, she still found herself getting ripped off the ground and crashing to her feet, breaking Teddy's fall.
"Aw, are you kidding? Of all times, my powers choose to act up now?" Teddy lamented as she stepped off of Fantasy.
Fantasy seemed a bit irritated that Teddy didn't even say thank you, but she was more concerned over the fact that Teddy seemed this surprised that her attack didn't work after multiple uses of it. Fantasy then scurried to her feet and tried to block Teddy from rejoining the fight for a moment to speak with her.
"You've exhausted a good amount of your magic, haven't you been keeping track?" Fantasy asked her in a worried tone.
"No." Teddy said flatly as she tried to walk past Fantasy, but she didn't allow her through.
Fantasy then blurted out," Are you feeling ok? Like...I mean, has something been bothering you?"
Teddy's eyes opened wide for a second and she had an impatient look on her face as she finally walked past Fantasy and said," I don't have the time to be talking about this kinda stuff."
As she brushed past Fantasy, Teddy had a more somber expression on her face for a moment, but went back into the fight without a second thought.
Dolly and Bubbly had joined forced and created a whirlpool together in an attempt to engulf the Defective. The attack spiraled around the Defective, tossing it around and then up into the air, but it wasn't long before the Defective gained control again and devoured the attack through unzipping and closing itself promptly after. Bubbly and Dolly gazed at the Defective, dumb-founded as they tried to process what just happened.
"Isn't that breaking the rules or something?" Bubbly asked in an exasperated tone while Dolly shrugged.
"You know, I think we can make use of this." Dolly stated before she turned her attention to Fantasy and Teddy," And I think I know how."
Dolly then noticed Fantasy seemed to have been in deep thought and judging by the look on her face, she had been thinking about the Defective's strange attack. Fantasy then snapped out of it and ran towards Dolly and Bubbly.
"I've got an idea!" Dolly and Fantasy said in unison.
Teddy was keeping the Defective preoccupied in the meantime, attacking mindlessly and not giving herself any time to catch a break, not even for a moment. Even if it seemed like she was just trying to keep the Defective busy, it seemed like she was trying to do more than that. All she really wanted right now was to keep herself caught up in battle so she wouldn't have a moment to think about her next move or her other concerns.
Teddy tried throwing a punch towards the Defective but it grabbed her arm in an instant and held her up.
"What's wrong with me? I already tried doing that and it didn't work! Why did I expect things to go differently?" Teddy thought to herself, before she was reminded of what happened early and what she thought about from years past," Why did I expect things to go differently?"
"Teddy, what do you think you're doing zoning out like that?!" Dolly then shouted, startling everyone in the area considering she wasn't one to raise her voice plus her shouting was a lot louder than expected," I don't know what's been bothering you today, but if one thing's for certain, I know you're stronger than this!"
Teddy wasn't sure of what to say and only smiled while closing her eyes, feeling quite exhausted. The Defective then unzipped itself and held Teddy above the opening to drop her in. Bubbly was terrified and was going to run towards the Defective to stop it, but Dolly stopped her.
Teddy then opened her eyes again, a more relaxed look in them as she said," Ok, let's try this once more."
The Defective dropped Teddy inside and zipped up the opening again while Teddy inspected her surroundings, though she wasn't quite successful in doing so due to how dark it was inside. Teddy then hugged herself as she tried to see what the inside of the Defective was like.
"It's pretty cold in here." Teddy remarked quietly as she slowly stood up," That can't be very good for you. How about we warm things up in here?"
She then held both of her palms open and exhaled a deep breath. She looked up to the top where she had been dropped from and a pair of small, glittery flames flickered out from her hands.
"I might be a bad person, but at least I'm not bad at this Pretty Cure stuff." Teddy said aloud, her tone more level now," If anything, this could easily be the only thing I'm good for. I don't really have any issues with that though. Maybe this is how things are supposed to be, at least for now. The good thing is...things don't have to stay like this."
The flames in her hands grew large, larger than any flame she had ever created as she said," Being a Pretty Cure is actually more fun than I expected. I get to use magic and beat up monsters left and right. I don't have to deal with any lame school assignments and I always win. It's such a nice feeling."
"I also like to use this Pretty Cure stuff as an outlet. An outlet to escape to when I'm sick of my own problems and want to avoid things. Maybe I do that too much, but if this Pretty Cure job has taught me anything..."
Teddy then spun around and the flames launched out from her palms, causing the interior of the bag to catch on fire.
"...I can overcome more than I think. And I will overcome anything in my way."
"Pretty Cure, Vigilant Ember!"
The Defective then unzipped itself and Teddy jumped out. The flames from inside the Defective had managed to set its entire body on fire and there were no sign of it stopping. The attack was a lot stronger than expected and so Bubbly stepped in to distinguish the flames, leaving the Defective unable to move.
Teddy then smiled and said," I'll finish things here, ok?"
Teddy then conjured up her scepter and held it up high, though she wasn't really sure of what she doing. Relying on only her intuition, Teddy pressed her eyes shut and held the scepter tight.
"Pretty Cure, Teddy Bear Picnic!" She shouted, as the atmosphere turned yellow, orange and gold in mid-sentence. A swarm of flaming sunflowers appeared and smothered the Defective, returning it to its original form.
"Great job, Teddy!" Fantasy cheered as she and the rest of the group ran towards her. Bubbly threw her arms around her and Teddy just looked at the small backpack a few feet away from her, feeling as if she had seen it somewhere before.
She then replayed what she said earlier from inside the Defective.
"I don't have to settle for this, things might not be the exact same. But...anything is an upgrade from what things between us are like right now." Teddy thought to herself.
A couple of days later, Tadashi and Shina were seen sitting on the bus together, where Tadashi was bringing his fellow student council member up to speed on all the stuff she missed while she was on vacation. Tadashi wasn't as energetic as he usually was and Shina was quick to catch on, but she said nothing about it.
"So basically, we got Nanae to join the newspaper club and we're planning to disband the debate club if they can't find five more members by the end of next week." Tadashi relayed, his gaze meeting Shina's for only a moment," All and all, not much has gone on, just planning fundraisers and the usual."
Shina nodded in response and jotted notes down into her book as she said," Nothing else has happened, nothing too draining, right?"
"No, why?" Tadashi asked as he checked which stop they were at.
"Just curious." Shina answered briefly, her eyes darting to him for just a moment.
Sophie had been on the same bus as them, her gaze on the two of them as she tried figuring out if she had seen them before. They both looked vaguely familiar and they even wore the same uniforms and the rest of her team did. But despite all her intense concentrating, she couldn't identify them. She sighed and then looked out the window, only a couple more stops now until she was at Cafe Rosewood.
Just then, the bus came to a screeching halt and the bus driver then started yelling. Sophie looked towards the front and saw a girl with greyish-pink hair wearing a black kimono blocking the path. The bus driver was yelling at her to get out of the way, but she had her gaze set on something, or rather, someone else. Sophie felt frozen as her gaze met the girl's, she could've sworn she had been staring directly at her.
The girl then tilted her head, a vacant look in her eye before she lifted up her left hand and blasted the bus a few feet backwards, asking,
"Are you a Pretty Cure?"