'Akira!' Yukari called out. 'I'm here now, what'd you want to talk to me about?'

Turning around in confusion, Akira replied, 'Huh? Yukari? You called me here.'

'No, I didn't.'

'W-what are you talking about, I got your text telling me to meet me here.'

'What are you talking about, Akira? You sent me a text.' Pulling her smartphone out of her coat pocket, she quickly unlocked it, loaded up her messages, and pulled up the text that had been sent to her. 'See?' she pointed out, holding the phone in front of Akira's face.

'Yukari, please meet me in the alleyway behind the cake shop, I need to talk to you about something,' Akira read the message on the phone screen, casting a glance at who the sender was, it indeed said it had come from her, Akira Kenjou. 'But, wait, wait, wait, Yukari, look at this,' she took her phone out of her jeans and showed her the message that she had received.

'Akira – meet me behind the cake shop, we need to talk – Yukari,' Yukari read and, just like how her message said it came from Akira, this message said it came from herself. She began thinking to herself, 'How odd.' She wondered for a moment before thinking of something, 'Wait, Akira, what time did you get the message?'

'2:43,' she replied, checking her phone once again.

'That's the same as me,' she chuckled, putting her phone back in her coat. 'Then, do you know what this means?'

'N-no?'

She continued laughing, 'It means, someone has set us up! Be on your guard, Akira.'

Nodding at her, the two girls completely changed their demeanor in an instant – gone was their confusion over who wanted to see who and in its place was an intense focus on their surroundings, wanting to make sure that whoever it was that brought them to this alley wouldn't be able to sneak up on them.

Catching the shadow of something out of the corner of her eye, Yukari dashed towards it, prepared to strike. Upon reaching the shadow, a stray cat, carrying a dead rat in its mouth, simply looked up at her in confusion and ran off. 'Heh,' she chuckled 'Just a cat.'

'One of your cat friends, eh?' Akira joked.

Before Yukari could say anything, the two of them both heard the distinctive sound of someone coming towards them. Preparing themselves, they turned round to face whoever, or whatever, was making this noise.

Unfortunately for the two girls, whoever or whatever was making the noise was much too fast for them to handle and, within mere seconds, the both of them were knocked out completely cold.

Waking up in a daze, Akira slowly opened her eyes. She was no longer in the alley, but now found herself sitting on the hard floor in a room she didn't recognize. There were a few lights hanging from the ceiling, but nothing else – no windows, no furniture, not even a door, as far as she could tell.

'Ah, Ms. Kenjou,' an unfamiliar and deep voice spoke, seeming to come from some hidden intercom somewhere in the room. 'I see you've finally woken up.'

'W-who said that?!' Akira shouted. 'Where's Yukari?!'

'It doesn't matter who I am,' the voice continued. 'But, you want to know what about Ms. Kotozume, yes?'

'Where is she!' she demanded.

'Fine, fine,' the voice relented. 'I'll show you her and might I add, I think you'll quite enjoy who she's become.' The voice laughed as a hidden door on the other side of the room slid open and Yukari stepped in. 'Enjoy!' the voice teased before fading away.

'Yukari!' Akira exclaimed as she ran towards her. Once she was close to her, however, Yukari suddenly reached out and shoved Akira out of her way and onto the hard floor.

'Don't get near me!' she snapped.

'Y-yukari, what do you mean?'

'You heard what I said, Kenjou,' she coldly remarked. 'But, there is something I need to tell you. It's the things I hate.'

'T-the things you hate?'

'Yes,' she continued. 'Here are the things I hate: I hate the pâtissiere, I hate those little brats running around in it, I hate being a Precure, and do you wanna know what I hate the most of all?'

Gulping nervously, she replied, 'W-what?'

'It's you, Kenjou, I hate you the most of all. I hate everything about you: your attitude, your clothes, I hate it all! I want nothing but to see you destroyed.'

'Y-yukari,' she slowly began.

'Don't call me that!' she snapped at her. 'Don't call me "Yukari" like I'm your friend or something!' Taking a few steps back from Akira, she took out her Sweets Pact and shouted, 'Cure la Mode Decoration! Macaron! With beauty and excitement, let's la mix it up!' And in a flash of light, she was transformed, 'Cure Macaron! Ready to serve!'

Now transformed, Cure Macaron stood, glaring at Akira, her eyes full of anger and hatred, except – she looked significantly different. While her physical appearance was the same as normal, instead of her normal, purple outfit, her outfit was now varying shades of black. Indeed, even her normally purple hair and eyes were now black as well. 'Kenjou,' she calmly said, holding up her Candy Rod. 'Prepare yourself, for once I defeat you, I'll make sure you can never transform again.'

Having come to the realization that she has no choice but to fight her, Akira took out her own Sweets Pact. 'Cure la Mode Decoration! Chocolate! With strength and love, let's la mix it up!' A flash of light, 'Cure Chocolat! Ready to serve!' Looking sadly over at her opponent, her gloved hand gripped tightly around her Candy Rod, she quietly whispered, 'Macaron, I don't know what's happened to you – but I'll get you back to normal.'

'Kirakira Kiraru!' Macaron shouted as she blew bubbles from the Sweets Pact at Chocolat. The bubbles made their way towards her and exploded before she could even react, knocking her off her feet and onto the ground.

'Macaron!' she yelled as she picked herself up 'Stop this, I don't want to fight you!' Using her own Sweets Pact, she reluctantly fired a blast of red energy towards Macaron. Prepared for it, Macaron swiftly dodged her attack and fired a larger blast of black energy back towards her.

'Why should I stop?' she laughed. 'This is the real me – and I've got Niku to thank for making me realize this!' Extending her nails into claws, she charged towards Chocolat, slashing her claws as she did, with each slash sending another blast of energy towards her opponent.

Thinking quickly, Chocolat shielded herself with a swipe from the Sweets Pact before leaping high into the air and behind Macaron, once landed, she fired a stream of energy at Macaron. Striking her in the back, Macaron found herself completely paralyzed by the attack.

'That's a cheap move, Chocolat,' she slyly remarked.

'I already said I don't want to fight you,' Chocolat began. 'And I think I know how to get you back to normal.'

Macaron scoffed, still immobile, '"Back to normal", you say?' She snorted, 'Don't make me laugh – this is my new normal. And nothing you say can change it!'

'Nothing I say, huh?' Chocolat remarked. 'How about something I do instead?' Grabbing a hold of Macaron's shoulder, Chocolat spun her around so they were looking face to face, Macaron's eyes still full of hatred for her. 'Macaron, no, Yukari, I love you,' she paused to swallow her nervousness over what she was about to do. Knowing it was now or never, Chocolat kissed Macaron, directly on her lips. After what felt like an eternity, she pulled her head away from hers. 'Well,' she asked. 'How do you feel?'

'C-chocolat,' she slowly began. 'I-I feel-' But, before she could continue, she began to screaming in intense agony.

'Yukari, what's wrong?!'

Still screaming, Macaron only barely managed to speak, 'Did...something...made me...hate you...fighting inside me...attack me…'

'A-attack you,' Chocolat stammered, taking a step back. 'I-I can't!'

'P-please,' Macaron begged, still in agony. 'Before...the hatred...comes back…'

Grasping her Candy Rod tightly, she finally nodded slowly in agreement to attack her, as much as it would pain her to do it. Bringing it in front of her, it transformed into a chocolate sword. Bringing the sword behind her, Chocolat called out, 'Macaron! Prepare yourself!', swinging the sword down over her head, an immense burst of glowing red energy fired from it, the energy struck Macaron and engulfed her entire body in its intense glow. Exploding in a blinding flash of bright red light, one final, ear-piercing scream from Macaron was all that was heard in accompaniment.

The light faded – and Cure Macaron was now lying face-down on the ground, completely motionless, but her normal colors were restored. Letting go of her sword, which transformed back into the Candy Rod as it clattered on the floor, Chocolat rushed over to Macaron's side, lifting her up by the shoulders, she began shaking her. 'Macaron!' she cried. 'Are you OK?'

Slowly opening her eyes, Macaron responded in a soft and quiet voice, 'Y-yes, I'm fine.' She let out a small smile. 'Thank you, Chocolat.'

Helping her get up, the two Precure searched the room for a way out – at first they thought about the door that let Macaron in but, unfortunately for them, it had closed with seemingly no way of opening it from their side.

Picking up her Candy Rod, Chocolat spoke, 'Well, Macaron, looks like we'll have to blast our way out of here.'

'Indeed.'

As the two prepared their Candy Rods, all the lights in the room hanging from the ceiling began swaying violently as they rapidly flickered between on an off. Soon, it seemed that the entire room was shaking, as if a massive earthquake were occurring, causing both Chocolat and Macaron to lose their footing and stumble.

Dark clouds began to appear in the center of the room, they swirled around each other and grew in size until they formed a shadowy figure, which appeared to be that of a hooded man with piercing yellow eyes.

'Cure Chocolat!' the figure yelled, bringing its arm forward and pointing at the two girls, the figure's voice was the same as the voice that had spoken to Chocolat earlier. 'How could you have freed Macaron from my grip?!'

Chocolat smirked and explained, 'It's easy, I figured it out when she told me what your name was. It's Niku, or in other words, hatred. And what beats hate?'

'It's love,' finished Macaron.

'Impossible!' screamed Niku. 'I'll finish you both yet!' Raising both his arms in the air, he began conjuring a glowing orb of energy.

'Macaron!' called out Chocolat. 'Let's do it!'

'OK!'

'Kirakira Kiraru!' the two Precure shouted simultaneously, swirling their Candy Rods in front of them.

'Chocolat!' yelled Chocolat as a mass of red energy emitted from her Candy Rod.

'Macaron!' yelled Macaron as an identical mass of purple energy came from her Candy Rod.

'Twisting Attack!' they both shouted as the red and purple energy masses swirled together into one gigantic mass of energy, the red-and-purple energy fired and struck Niku, who was preparing to fire his own energy attack.

Screaming in terror as the energy overwhelmed him, Niku yelled as his form began to dissipate. 'Precure!' he screamed. 'You may have won this time, but hatred will always return!' With one final yell, Niku disappeared completely.

With Niku's disappearance, the entire room they were in disappeared as well, revealing that they were still in the alleyway behind the cake shop. Transforming back into Akira and Yukari, they looked at each other, standing in an awkward silence for nearly a full minute.

'Akira,' Yukari began, before being interrupted by the feeling of something wet falling on her head. She looked up at the sky and a few drops of rain fell onto her face.

'Ah,' exclaimed Akira, covering her head with her arms. 'Yukari, come on, let's go inside the cake shop until the rain stops.' She began heading out of the alley as the rain began to grow more intense.

'Wait!' called out Yukari.

'What? We're gonna get soaked out here.'

'It's just,' Yukari nervously began, her eyes darting from left to right, before suddenly running up to Akira and embracing her tightly. Planting her face in Akira's chest, she silently began to cry, 'It's just, I love you too, Akira.'

Having almost forgotten about the rain, Akira attempted to calm Yukari down by rubbing her back, 'There, there. It's OK, let's just go inside and we can have some cake, alright?'

Letting go of Akira and wiping her tears away, she smiled, 'Yeah, I'd like that.'

'Come on then,' Akira chuckled, putting her arm around Yukari and pulling her close. 'Let's go.'

As they both smiled and held each other close, Akira Kenjou and Yukari Kotozume made their way out of the alley to head into the cake shop, hoping to both get away from the rain and to put this experience behind them.