Hayase and Tadashi sat facing each other in the near empty classroom, reading over a set of their evaluations and looking at a select few closely. The both of them had no intent to mention the elephant in the room in front of their fellow members, but with only the two of them here, they felt more at ease to speak about the topic on their minds. The end of the school year was slowly creeping up on them. Soon enough, their days as a student here at Ikoma would be numbered and while the idea of new chapter in their lives was exciting, they still had some matters to tend to before they took their leave. For example, deciding on a new student council president.
Usually, a student who had interest in the position would tell the current head of the council, but the problem was, nobody except for some headstrong first-years expressed interest in it. Their team had some very passionate, hard-working first-year members but, neither Hayase or Tadashi thought they were responsible enough as of yet. It was one thing to say they'd do great things as student council president but to actually go through with it? The two boys sat in the room, sighing since they already knew how overwhelmed a second-year president with all the responsibilities they'd have.
"Our second years are a lot more timid in comparison huh?" Tadashi remarked with a chuckle as he held the evaluation of a second-year whose existence he nearly forgot," It's a shame since the first-years would likely feel unappreciated for their hard work."
Hayase shrugged, looking over to evaluation of another second-year, as he commented with"They don't need to be super out-going or get along with everyone. I just want someone who's going to get the job done right."
Tadashi nodded in agreement and said," Well, I think the most prominent second-year members we've got are Shina and Misato, but neither of them have voiced any interest as successors. Do you think we should have a talk with them about it?"
"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. I'll text Kiriko about it later this evening" Hayase answered as he gathered all the evaluations into a binder on the table," We've been here for quite a bit, I'm going to head out soon. Coming with?"
"Sorry man, I wanted to check out the fitness gym they built near the cafeteria." Tadashi said sheepishly as he handed Hayase the evaluations in his hands," I'll see you tomorrow though!"
Hayase nodded and exited the classroom, just before Tadashi collected his things and left heading the opposite direction. Tadashi looked around the empty halls of the school, thinking about the potential candidates that he and Hayase chose.
"Shina may be a little weird, but she knows how to listen to others well and come up with creative solutions. Misato's seriousness and quiet take-action attitude compliments her personality well. They're sorta like me and Hayase!" Tadashi said to himself.
Just then, Tadashi heard a pair of familiar voices from inside one of the classrooms ahead. He walked alongs the walls in the corridor and glanced into the windows of the classroom. Inside of the room was Kiriko and Mari sitting on a high table in front of a tray with a frog on it. Mari was shaking like a leaf, her eyes pressed shut as she slightly turned her head away from the tray. Kiriko sat across from her, wearing an overly sympathetic look on her face. Tadashi knew that look very well, so he was aware that Kiriko was in fact not feeling sympathy, but rather impatience. She had a bad habit of making that face when she first joined student council and while it was good in masking her insensitivity, Tadashi told her that faking concern for others wasn't going to cut it if she wanted to stay on the council.
Tadashi then decided to step into the class to see if he could be of any help. He smiled to the girls and waved his hand, with Mari waving back anxiously in return. He stood next to the girls and looked down at the frog on the tray. It was pinned down and lifeless, so there was no way for it to move around or anything while Mari attempted dissecting it. Though, Tadashi had a feeling that wasn't why Mari seemed so against this.
Mari then let go of the little scalpel in her hand and finally said," I can't do this."
Kiriko held back on a sigh and then said," If you're not comfortable with it, you can just tell the teacher. I'm sure he'll understand."
"You don't wanna dissect it?" Tadashi asked her as he stared at the frog with them.
"No! Dissections are inhumane and messy and mean and I mean...think about it! Imagine you're a frog, living your life completely unaware that your only purpose is to be cut up by a high-school student who doesn't gain anything from doing so. Don't you think that's just terrible?"
"If I were a frog...?" Tadashi repeated blankly, beginning to envision himself living the life of a frog.
"She's lost him..." Kiriko thought to herself before saying to Mari," Mari, the frog can't feel pain anymore. You're free to cut him up and the frog's not going to mind. For all we know, it could've had a really good life, and it was ok with passing on."
"That's it, when the teacher comes back, I'm telling him I can't dissect it." Mari concluded as she stood up from the table," I don't have the heart to slice up an innocent creature like that and he'll just have to accept it."
Kiriko pursed her lips, and didn't want to mention the obvious but felt as if she no choice to and said," The teacher has to make students who fail to do a dissection write an extensive research paper on an animal of his choice. You're ok with that, right?"
"I don't mind! All I could wish for now is that no frog ever has to go through something like that again and gets to live the life that they choose!" Mari declared firmly as she banged her fists on the table.
Suddenly, a mass of rainbow lights appeared and blinded the three of them completely for a few moments. Once the lights dissipated,, the girls looked around curiously to see what happened. Kiriko glared at Mari for a few moments, annoyed with the fact that Mari's magic was still acting up (even if she couldn't help it) especially since there was a non-cure in the room. The lights were gone now, but now Tadashi was too.
"Tadashi?" Kiriko called out worriedly as she inspected the room.
The girls heard a croak and then looked down at the frog on the tray, who was still lifeless. But, sitting next to the dissecting frog was a yellow-green frog with big dark eyes. It looked as if was in deep thought as it stared into space.
"Tadashi...?" Kiriko repeated nervously with the frog turning to her, but then going back to staring straight ahead a few moments later," Mari..."
"I didn't mean to! Do you honestly believe I wanted to see Tadashi turn into a frog?" Mari stared as she leaned closer to frog Tadashi, who licked his eyeball.
"Just change him back." Kiriko demanded as she took a seat on the stool behind her, arms crossed as she suspiciously watched frog Tadashi.
Mari nodded in response and stared down frog Tadashi, and then banged her fists on the table, while keeping her gaze fixed to the frog. The frog Tadashi flinched, but no lights and no human Tadashi appeared. She tried again, but nothing happened. Mari stood up after a few failed attempts and tried to hold out her hands in strange positions to see if that would do anything. Still, nothing worked in getting Tadashi back to normal. The longer Mari took to fix Tadashi, the more anxious Kiriko became. Kiriko leaned close to the frog Tadashi and tried to figure out what else might have triggered the transformation. Frog Tadashi was a lot more relaxed than Kiriko would've expected, doing nothing but sitting around and occasionally puffing his chest in and out. Kiriko glanced over to Mari, who was still trying to bring human Tadashi back but at this point, it appeared futile as her poses got more and more strange. Kiriko sighed and looked around the room in search of a container for the frog Tadashi. She found a small empty box lying in the corner and took it into her hands as she walked back to the desk where Tadashi was.
Kiriko put the box on the table, but didn't make any attempt to place Tadashi in the box. She drummed her fingers against the surface of the desk, unwilling to simply try to grab Tadashi in fear he'd jump away and escape.
"At this point, I guess our only hope is asking Rani and Nova for help." Mari said in defeat, feeling a bit ashamed that she couldn't bring human Tadashi back. Kiriko nodded but, her gaze was kept on frog Tadashi who was still sitting in the same spot. Kiriko then moved the box in Tadashi's point of view and said slowly in an imperative tone,
"Tadashi, get in the box."
Tadashi blinked a few times and hopped forwards. Kiriko and Mari exchanged impressed looks, but Tadashi refused to move any further. Kiriko narrowed her eyes at the frog and held the box closer to him. The frog only blinked some more and remained still.
Kiriko decided she was done playing around and demanded, " Tadashi, now."
Tadashi took one leap forward, just as Kiriko moved the box towards him, managing to get Tadashi inside. She clamped it shut for a few moments with an empty tray on the desk and waited for Tadashi to calm down a bit. But, Tadashi didn't make any fuss once he was inside the box and just sat around like before. Kiriko slowly removed the tray off the box and learned that Tadashi didn't seem interested in trying to make an escape. All he did in the box was lick his eyeball again.
Unimpressed by frog Tadashi, Kiriko only said," I'm just going to text Asuna and Sophie to meet us at my house."
About an hour or so later, the four Cures along with the fairies were all gathered in Kiriko's bedroom with frog Tadashi being the center of attention. Frog Tadashi did do anything note-worthy and continued to sit around staring idly at the walls in Kiriko's room. Rani and Nova sat a little closer to the frog to see what they were dealing with and to decide what could remedy the situation. Sophie looked at the frog intently, she had never actually seen one up close and thought it was sorta cute. But once she was told it was the boy she met at when they all went to the cafe last week, she only felt remorse for the frog, and then wondered what being a human turned frog was like.
"Poor thing, and you guys have no idea how to get him back to normal?" Sophie asked the two witnesses, who only shook their head in response.
"I guess I just had frogs on the brain since I had to dissect one for class and Tadashi was just there and well..." Mari stammered out as she set her eyes on the frog, feeling even more guilty," I'm really sorry about this, especially to you Asuna."
Asuna snickered, only leaning in closer towards the frog and poking it's stomach as she said," Are you kidding me? This is hilarious! I always said he looked kinda like a toad and now we've come full circle!"
"Asuna, are you even the slightest bit concerned for him?" Kiriko asked her sounding agitated as she narrowed her eyes to the redhead," How will you even explain this to your mom?"
Asuna continued to poke her frog brother, not returning her gaze to the group as she said," It's fine, I'll just say something like he's crashing at our dad's place. He's already been doing that so it shouldn't be too suspicious."
"Plus... this buys me a bit of time." Asuna thought to herself as she poked away at Tadashi.
Asuna and Tadashi got home from their little outing with their giant group, with Asuna crashing onto the couch on the living room while Tadashi turned on the TV. Asuna felt like she could've just fallen asleep here, but then Tadashi started to speak to her.
"Damn, so you've made friends with a model? That's awesome! Maybe she could introduce me to her cute model friends~" Tadashi mused as he watched the show he tuned on to," By the way...you never told me why you've started talking to Kiriko. Will I ever get to know?"
"I pretended to fall asleep, though I doubt he bought that. Still, he has yet to ask me about it again." Asuna thought to herself, feeling herself grow tense as she watched the frog," He was definitely going to at some point. I guess as of now, that's the least of my problems."
"So, any bright ideas?" Kiriko asked Rani and Nova, who seemed to be finished with their Tadashi observing.
The two fairies exchanged expressions, and nodded their heads. They stood in front of the girls, the both of them wearing very certain and stern looks on their faces.
"We're...completely stumped." Rani surmised plainly.
"What? I thought you two were magic experts!" Asuna shouted as she pointed a finger to Nova," Weren't you two the ones who sealed up Chinami's magic?"
"Sealing up magic like hers was a cake walk!" Nova said in her defense as she crossed her arms," But...the truth is Mari's magic is troublesome. We aren't really used to magic that transforms and moves things sporadically. Have you gotten any advice on how to tame your magic from your mom?"
The girls all turned to Mari, who clung onto a pillow defensively as she said," I haven't even got the chance to tell her."
"Really, you had two chapters to tell her, that's plenty of time!" Rani chided her before her returned her attention to Tadashi," We can try to get in contact with someone from the kingdom to see if they have any experience with this since that door we created to connect the two worlds is still here. Nova and I could easily go to look for help. In the meantime, don't let Tadashi out of your sight!"
The girls nodded and the two fairies walked into the corner of Kiriko's room to enter the kingdom through the door. Once the two of them left, the girls stared at the frog again, who wouldn't even move an inch.
"I guess you'll need a proper container for him." Kiriko said to Asuna as she tried to find something suitable to hold the frog," What do frogs even eat anyways?"
"Oh, they can eat crickets,worms, caterpillars, moths and a bunch of other insects! They tend to be quite carnivorous." Mari explained, only grossing out the team.
"Why do I have to be the one to take care of him though?" Asuna asked flatly.
"He's your brother, isn't he?" Kiriko pointed out as she tossed a clear bucket she found in her closet to Asuna.
"But I don't know how to care for a frog!" Asuna reminded them impatiently before an idea came to her, as she pointed to Kiriko," But, you can."
Kiriko looked at her in question, letting Asuna continue.
"You are the Princess of Wishes. You say that every time you transform! So your kiss can save Tadashi!" Asuna explained, though Kiriko only appeared disgusted by the idea.
"She really doesn't want to look after her frog brother huh?" Mari said sheepishly to Sophie, who only watched Asuna curiously.
Kiriko raised her hands up to protest and said sternly," There is no way I would ever kiss Tadashi."
"Why did she put it like that?" Mari and Sophie thought to themselves.
The next day at lunch, Kiriko and Hayase could be seen working away on some notes for the meeting they planned to have after school. Kiriko glanced over to the notes Hayase was making, a small smile on her face as she saw the words 'Discuss elections' circled in red. Kiriko pointed to the circled words on the paper and looked at Hayase as she said,
"It feels weird knowing that we'll be relieved of these roles soon, doesn't it?"
Hayase nodded in response and said casually," But, it feels nice in a way. Soon we won't be the trio of the council, and after that, we won't be students here at Ikoma. After that, the rest is up to us."
"You're so cheesy." Kiriko chided as she rolled her eyes," So, after talking about the elections, we'll have a talk with Misato and Shina about the role in private. After all this time, they haven't said a word about elections. Do you think they're just shy about the whole speech thing they'll need to do?"
"It's a possibility." Hayase replied as he scribbled some more notes on his page as he felt a shiver crawl down his spine," I remember how bad mine was. But at least everything worked out in the end. Too bad Tadashi can't come today to encourage them, not with that frog in his throat."
Kiriko chuckled awkwardly, well aware that it was only a figure of speech but just hearing the word frog had her on edge this past day. As Kiriko wrote down some notes into her binder, a thought then came into her mind. She put her pencil down for a moment and looked over to Hayase again.
"Hey, I remember Tadashi mentioning that you two had been best friends since you were kids, does that mean you've been friends with Asuna all this time too?" Kiriko asked him.
"Well, only when we were kids. Ever since then, Asuna and I grew apart and...she hasn't grown up. She still acts like a selfish brat and I don't think she'll change anytime soon." Hayase explained as he returned to his note taking.
Kiriko watched him for a few moments, in disagreement with him but having no intent on correcting him. If he had been talking about the Asuna of a couple of months ago, then maybe those words would've rang true. Even if Kiriko had only known Asuna for a short while, she knew well that Asuna had been changing and slowly undoing her own bad habits. If only Hayase knew of her progress. Kiriko kept quiet and continued to jot down some extra topics to go over during the meeting.
Asuna was sitting with her back against the wall next to the same class room Mari attempted her frog dissection. Asuna was growing impatient after waiting around for what felt like ages but had only been about fifteen minutes. She then crossed her legs and started to type up a text to Mari on her phone asking where she was. Asuna then slowly opened up her bag, revealing frog Tadashi in a clear box without a lid. Asuna looked both way before she took the box out of the bag and looked down to her frog brother.
"If we're lucky, you'll be brought back to normal soon." Asuna reassured him, though the frog didn't appear to have any idea what she was saying. Staring at the frog who was vacantly staring into space reminded Asuna of just how strange this whole situation was. While she still didn't feel particularly guilty for being so nonchalant about the situation, she had to admit she probably would've been much more surprised if this was a couple of months ago.
"Hopefully you has no memory of being a frog once you're back to your regular self." Asuna said to the frog before Mari arrived at the class room. Mari waved to her and the two of them walked into the room together.
Mari drew the blinds to the class windows down and Asuna locked the door before putting Tadashi on the desk. Mari walked over to the frog and stood a few feet away from it while Asuna took a seat between them on a high chair.
"I'm going to assume you got some tips from your mom on changing him back?" Asuna asked as she pressed her fist against her cheek.
Mari shook her head once, her resolute attitude only annoying Asuna, who narrowed her eyes at her and said," Then why are we here? If you haven't learned anything to change him, then it'll make no difference to try today."
"But this is my fault and if can't fix my own mistakes then...then I don't deserve these powers!" Mari declared her tone firm as she set her gaze on the frog," If I can change him into a frog as easily as I did, then I should be able to change him back right?"
"Yeah, but you couldn't remember?" Asuna said flatly, but her words seemed to have fallen on deaf ears since Mari was already trying out her powers again.
Several attempts were made in getting Tadashi back to normal, but just like last time, nothing seemed to work. Though Asuna was already growing tired of lounging around, having a feeling no progress would've been made today, Mari was persistent and continued working away, even if all her attempts were fruitless. Mari could feel herself growing frustrated but had no desire to give up and instead tried to clear her mind.
"You're acting like this is way harder than it already is..." Mari thought to herself as she pressed her eyes shut," This time, he will change back to normal!"
"Whoa, look what happened!" Asuna cried out, startling Mari a bit. Mari opened her eyes, hoping to see human Tadashi perched on the desk and back to his regular self but instead all she saw was the frog, with his eyes shut.
"He fell asleep." Asuna stated in an amused tone while Mari took a deep breath.
"So, having said that, the meeting is adjourned. I hope to hear some responses from you all." Hayase said to the student council members as they all rose from their seats," If you're interested in the position be sure to let me, Kiriko or Tadashi know by our next meeting."
Everyone was flooding out into the halls, but Hayase had Misato and Shina stay behind. Kiriko inspected the halls, to make sure nobody was lingering around and shut the door, gesturing at the front seats for Shina and Misato to sit on. Both of them followed her lead, with very different expressions on their faces.
"Are we being lectured?" Misato thought as he looked towards Hayase and Kiriko, his heart skipping a beat," Shina I can understand, but why do I need to be here? I've never been her accomplice in any of our student council activities even though we're in the same home room. "
"On dearest me, please don't tell me we're getting let go!" Shina said in an overly dramatic voice as she raised her hand to her forehead," I understand that these meetings are tough on you guys but please, anything but this~! We haven't done anything to deserve this~! But...that's obviously not why we're here, is it?"
Kiriko coughed awkwardly then politely chuckled as she met eyes with Shina saying," No, neither of you are in trouble or being asked to resign from your positions. As a matter of fact, it's actually the opposite."
Misato and Shina exchanged glances, while Hayase continued from where Kiriko left off.
"So we were thinking that if we wanted anyone to succeed us as president and vice-president, it should be you guys! Both of you have displayed great problem-solving skills, you get along well with everyone, you're both also quite dedicated when it comes to our work and we think you're ready."
"Not only that, but student council president would look really good on a resume or when you're applying to universities within the next year." Kiriko reminded them, with Hayase nodding in agreement," Of course, it's really up to you guys though. If you feel you'd rather focus more on your studies or something this upcoming year, then it's alright."
Both Misato and Shina fell silent for a few moments and the two third-years in the room gave them a few moments to think. Just then, a deafening shriek was unleashed in the halls of the schools, startling the four of them. Kiriko fell her stomach turn, that scream sounded like it belonged to Mari. Kiriko impulsively darted towards the door and was about to run in the direction the scream came from, but her path was obstructed by a little family of frogs in the middle of the hall. Unlike the Tadashi frog, these frogs seemed more active and were jumping around the halls carelessly. Watching them jump made Kiriko feel squeamish and so, she shut the door on them. Her back was leaning against the door and her fellow council members looked at her suspiciously.
"What did you see out there?" Hayase asked as he took a stand from his seat and walked over towards Kiriko. Kiriko tried to protest, but Hayase simply walked past her and stood outside of the class. He was at a loss of words as he stared at the frog family jumping about.
"Frogs..." Hayase said, a blank look in his eye as he stared at the frogs in the hall.
"Damn it, I really didn't want him seeing this." Kiriko thought to herself as she tried pulling back her frog-hating friend into the classroom. Kiriko then led him over towards the teacher's desk and had him stand in front of it, though he didn't look Kiriko in the eye.
"Are you good?" Kiriko asked as she kneeled slightly with Hayase nodding in response and coming back to his senses," I have a bad feeling that Mari had something to do with this. I should go to try help her out."
As Kiriko inspected Hayase for a few moments to make sure he was ok, she failed to notice Shina sneak out of the class to see what was going on. The blonde shut the door quietly and discovered even more frogs than Kiriko and Hayase, though she was as frightened as the two of them.
Grinning from ear to ear, she shouted out," Misato, check this out! There's a bunch of escaped frogs out here!"
Misato sighed, not believing her for a second until he heard an echo of croaks coming from outside the classroom. The croaks weren't stopping and so, Misato walked outside to find Shina sitting down next to the frog family.
"Aren't they cute?" Shina gushed as she held one up to Misato's face, who only grimaced at the sight of it and took a step back, shaking his head in response. Shina tried petting it a bit more, but then the frog leapt out of her hands. Shina reached her arm out for it, but it only hopped away.
"No come back, I love you!" Shina cried out as she ran for the frog.
"Misato, please go after her." Kiriko advised as she entered the hallway," I'm going to check the science lab and see what might've happened in there."
"But what about Hayase?" Misato asked her.
"He'll be completely fine once the frogs clear out," Kiriko reassured before she ran in the opposite direction of Shina.
Kiriko ran at break-neck speed towards the Science lab, skidding to a stop once she reached it. Strangely enough, there weren't as many frogs here as there was in the halls further from the room, and knowing that these frogs were probably more lively than Tadashi frog had Kiriko feeling uneasy.
"Damn it Mari, how did you manage to make more frogs instead of changing Tadashi back?" A voice that sounded like Asuna's shouted from inside the classroom," Wouldn't that take more energy to do?"
Kiriko walked into the room quietly, finding a family of frogs sitting on the desk, with a familiar lazy frog in Asuna's hands. Upon seeing the Tadashi frog, Kiriko drew out a sigh of relief and walked over to the two of them.
"What happened?" Kiriko asked, feigning a calm tone as she stared at the Tadashi frog in Asuna's hands. At this point, she already had a good idea of what happened, but Kiriko felt it wouldn't hurt to hear their side of the story. Mari appeared frantic, trying to make sure the frog she had on the desk wouldn't hop away while Asuna spoke for her.
"Mari wanted to try her hand and fixing Tadashi again but...things didn't go as planned." Asuna explained as she gestured to the frogs on the desk," Oh and few of them escaped too."
Bounce sat at the top of the school, legs crossed as she relished in the screams she heard from inside. They kept coming one after the other, it had been awhile since Bounce had seen something like this. Only problem was, she wasn't the cause of it. She didn't even know why everyone seemed to be in such peril. With no sign of any other Asperity member around or a Defective loose off it's chain, Bounce only grew more curious of what was happening inside. So, she stepped off the rooftop and disappeared into the school.
She reappeared in the halls and looked around curiously, seeing nothing but a set of frogs on her path. Bounce tilted her head and narrowed her eyes, in sheer disbelief that this was the cause behind everyone's terror. Bounce knelt down before the group of frogs, staring at them as they puffed their little chests in and out. The smallest frog hopped forward, stared at Bounce for a long while, then licked it's eyeball.
"Gross." Bounce concluded as she stood back up and stretched herself out," So, these are the culprits? Earthlings can't get any more embarrassing than this."
Bounce's train of thought came to a crash when she head the sound of a fist pounding against a wall. Bounce jumped slightly and then turned around to find a student in low spirits as he turned around and slid down against the wall.
"All my hard work for nothing, why can't they be bothered to appreciate all I've done for student council?" The student, first-year Osashi, said to himself as he quietly opened his bag," They see me as a child, they don't want me running for president when their sight are already set on Misato and Shina."
From his bag, he pulled out a very small plush monkey and squeezed it in his hands, feeling guilty at first, and then humiliated in his own actions.
"What am I saying, I am a child for feeling helpless and relying on you to make me feel better." Osashi said as he hurled the plush to the opposite end of the hallway.
Bounce walked over to the plush and picked it up, before setting her gaze on Osashi, who didn't even seem to be the slightest bit scared of her, assuming she was just some third-year delinquent he never met until now.
"This a nice plush, mind if I make use of it?" Bounce asked him.
Kiriko and Mari gave themselves the task of collecting as many frogs around the school as they could while Asuna was stuck inside the classroom watching over Tadashi. The two of them had been gone for a while now and with nothing but a pair of medium-sized boxes to catch the frogs, things weren't looking very good for them. Asuna then looked down at the frog, wondering when was the last time she was forced to be with her brother like this.
She was growing impatient but just then, she heard the familiar cry of a Defective from outside the school and immediately rushed to the windows to see what was going on. She found a giant yellow and tan monkey Defective screaming and running around the school making a giant mess of things and scaring away the students.
"You've got to be kidding me..." Asuna groaned as she ran out of the classroom, just before realizing she still had Tadashi in her hands. She sighed and looked down at him, knowing he'd probably stay put but not be sure of just where to hide him.
Shina then appeared in the hallway, scouring it in search of the frog from before and not paying any attention to Asuna.
"Where did you go?" Shina whined with a pout while examining the halls.
"Hey weirdo, mind holding this for me?" Asuna asked while placing the frog into Shina's hands. Shina didn't argue, not even sure of what exactly Asuna was doing. Asuna left moments later and before Shina even realized it, she had Tadashi in her hands.
"Have we met before?" Shina casually asked him as she leaned in closer.
The Defective was hard to control, but once Bounce realized there wasn't any getting through to it, she simply let the Defective do as it pleased as watched it wreak terror on the school. She exhaled a breath of relief and watched the Defective do as it pleased, until it got it's arm tied against a nearby tree from a flaming ring. Bounce groaned, she didn't even want to look in the direction of where the ring came from, already knowing who threw it.
"Always conveniently showing up when you're not wanted. Lemme guess, you were the ones behind the frog outbreak at this school?" Bounce asked irritatedly.
The three Cures, minus Bubbly who assured them she'd come as fast as she could, stood before the Defective ready to fight. Fantasy's cheeks tinted pink, she really didn't want to think about the frog influx and how she left all those frogs unattended.
"A couple of frogs is nothing compared to what you've done!" Teddy reminded her as she darted towards the Defective with her hands in front of herself," Pretty Cure, Vigilant Ember!" The Defective uprooted the tree it was stuck to and launched the tree towards Teddy. Teddy ducked but she barely dodged it and looked towards the direction the tree was heading. It landed against the school and thankfully didn't cause much damage. Suddenly, Teddy was hit with a tree smaller than the one before and was flat the ground with sapling on top of her. Thankfully, it didn't weigh too much but the impact of the tree flying towards her did hurt more than expected.
The Defective laughed wildly as it watched Teddy fighting to get back up, not even noticing Cure Dolly and Fantasy running towards it. The two Cures thought they had the upper hand since the Defective wasn't paying them any attention and only wanted to laugh at Teddy struggling to her feet, but it appeared that even while distracted, it was still unpredictable in its movements. The Defective slammed one foot on the ground, holding it's stomach as sides started to hurt and almost squished Cure Dolly in the process. Dolly barely made it out unscathed but now a lot more cautious in where she stepped around the Defective. But even with caution, she already knew the Defective was sporadic and not being certain of where her next misstep would be made her grow anxious.
Dolly tried a reevaluation the situation to figure from a different standpoint what could work against this Defective. Dolly then noticed something about the Defective, and started to watch it even closer to get a better idea of what she could do.
"It was probably made from a stuffed animal, but unlike the Defective from before...This one probably didn't divide its Patchwork Heart with its owner." Dolly thought to herself. The Defective's laughter was slowly dying down, but then, it got hit straight in the face by a stream of water. The Defective shook it's head clean and glared towards the newcomer who attacked it.
"Monkeying around and laughing at my friend is majorly unacceptable!" Bubbly declared, standing on top of a lamp post," You'll be sorry for messing with us!"
The Defective wasn't pleased to see another member to the team and got serious about fighting as it ran towards them.
Back inside of the school, Misato was in a panic looking for the rest of the escaped frogs since Kiriko and Mari requested him to do so and search for Shina. At this point, he didn't care what happened to Shina but if a bunch of leftover frogs appeared in the classroom Hayase was residing in, he'd feel terrible for not doing this job right.
"Good grief, it would've been nice to know how many frogs have been let loose." Misato grumbled to himself as he walked through the halls. He managed to rally up as many as he could and placed them inside the science lab, but he kept a sharp eye out just in case he missed one.
While Misato was looking for more frogs, he heard the cries of the Defective from outside and jumped from the sound. His heartbeat got quicker and he looked towards the closest window. His face was pressed against the window looking into a classroom where he could see the Defective from the room's window. There was somebody in there too, sitting on the teacher's desk, but the Defective shadowed them, making it hard to make out who it was.
"What the heck is that thing?!" Misato asked as he pressed his face closer against the window.
Cure Fantasy jumped up in front of the window and the Defective swung a bench it found towards her, but it missed and instead the bench was flung into the classroom windows.
Misato then shouted to the person in the class room,"Hey, watch out! You're gonna get-!"
As the student looked towards the bench flying towards them, the bench crashed into the window, but instead of the bench falling into the class room and the glass shattering, the bench and the shattered glass turned into a multitude of light blue and teal stars.
Misato stood there, eyes wide in pure shock and couldn't process what just happened. It was hard enough to figure out how a giant animate monkey plush came into being, but to arrive at a logical explanation for that? Misato slowly removed himself from the window and kept his hands pressed against it, before he glanced at the room number.
"Isn't this...?" Misato trailed off, shaking his head vigorously in disbelief.
Dolly leapt up high before the Defective, but the Defective was quick and grabbed her in an instant. Dolly writhed around in its grip for a few moments and the Defective smiled upon the sight of her misfortune. He squished her a little but then, she bursted into a mass of little pink and purple bows. The Defective looked at his now empty hand in confusion before realizing it had been tricked. The real Dolly crept up behind him, thinking she had an opening, but the Defective saw her from the corner of its eye and swung the back of its hand towards her, resulting in her getting flung a few feet backwards.
Dolly crashed into a set of shrubs surrounding the school wall and Fantasy came to her aid, helping her lead Cure to her feet. Dolly was furious now, dusting off her dress in a huff as she shouted,
"That hurts you know!"
The Defective then began to laugh madly while repeating Dolly, only making her feel undermined. The Defective started to hold its sides again from all the laughter.
"Of course I know it hurts!" The Defective shouted to her vehemently," That's exactly how Osashi threw me when he got mad at me without reason!"
"Osashi? As...our noisy first-year on student council?" Dolly said to herself quietly before she studied the Defective. Osashi never really seemed like the type to keep a plush toy at his side, let alone own one at his age, but it wasn't like Dolly knew him all that well. But, it did seem in character for him to get frustrated like this with elections coming up. Dolly took a deep breath and decided to take a new approach with this Defective.
Teddy and Bubbly stood at the sides of the Defective, waiting for a signal to attack, but Dolly gestured at them to desist. The two of them looked at her worriedly but did as told. Dolly then walked up cautiously towards the Defective, who also seemed suspicious of her.
Once she got close enough, her voice turned gentle and soft as she said," You know that Osashi has probably been going through a rough time right?"
The Defective wore a look of surprise on its face as it said in its defense," But that doesn't give him any right to take it out on me! I know better than anyone else that Osashi deserves to be student body president but he's acting like I'm to blame!"
"I'm sure he didn't mean to, he's always been a little hot-headed, hasn't he?" Dolly reasoned, though the Defective didn't seem convinced," He always feel regretful when he takes things too far, he's probably feeling guilty about what he did to you."
"Don't you want to see your friend again?" Dolly asked him in a concerned tone, with the Defective nodding in response.
"Mr. Monkey, right now you and Osashi are being manipulated by Asperity to do their bidding. If you allow us to, we can fix all of this and you can be with Osashi again." Dolly said to him quietly," Do you trust us?"
The Defective nodded and so, the girls conjured up their scepters and their toy toppers. Once they were inserted into the scepters, the Cures outfits changed.
"Playtime begins! Patchwork Form!" The four of them called out.
They held out their scepters up high and shouted in unison," Pretty Cure, Playtime Paradise!"
The atmosphere around them turned white and the Defective was at peace as a mass of shimmering lights surrounded it, reverting it into its original form.
Dolly walked towards the toy and held it in her hands, surprised by how small it was. She looked around for Bounce, but it appeared that she had already taken her leave. The girls reversed their transformations and started to look for Osashi, whom they suspected to be outside.
"You too, huh? Man, it was insanely vivid. Felt like I was out for days." A voice that sounded like Tadashi's said in the direction of the school doors. The four girls turned around and discovered Tadashi, Osashi, and Shina walking out of the school together.
"I can't really remember anything from my dream." Osashi said as he rubbed his head tenderly," It was kinda like being trapped in a void."
"Tadashi, you're ok!" Kiriko cried out as she and Mari ran towards him. He seemed confused by their concern, and awkwardly chuckled while they took a close look at him, just to be sure. Asuna narrowed her eyes, trying to determine what triggered the reversal of Tadashi's transformation. She then turned to Shina and stared at her suspiciously.
"Where's the frog I left you with?" Asuna asked her
"What can I say, I left him with the rest of his frog family." Shina answered with a shrug," He didn't need to be with me."
Asuna didn't like that answer, but she put the case to rest, only feeling relief now that Tadashi was no longer a frog.
"Hayase, you're home late from school and you didn't even call me?" Hayase's mother, Hana, berated as Hayase stepped foot into the house.
Hayase just shrugged carelessly in response and said," Sorry got caught up with some school work."
Hana pressed her lips shut, wanting to argue but not wanting to have things get out of hand. She was already in a bad mood and didn't want to make things worse. She brushed her hand into Hayase's hair and noticed something off, though she chose to say nothing of it.
"Go wash up, I'm getting dinner ready." Hana said to him, leading Hayase to head upstairs.
Once he was out of earshot, Hana quickly dialed a number up on her phone. She impatiently waited as the dial tone droned on and looked up towards the staircase. Once the person she called answered, she wasted no time in telling them her issue.
"Yes, I know what time it is over there, just hear me out right now!" Hana yell-whispered into the phone," That son of yours Seal is breaking again! Ever since those new Pretty Cure girls have been appearing around town, I get more and more nervous of...Excuse me? I am not making a big deal of this, I'm only trying to keep him safe, you of all people should understand! He's also starting to look like you know who...you don't think they'll notice?"
In Hayase's room, a bunch of old toy rockets he had stored away in his closet were floating up in the air around him on his bed. Hayase laid there quietly, unsure of what to feel about this accomplishment. His concentration was broken, leading the rockets to plummet to the ground as his mother shouted for him saying that dinner was ready.