Gokigenyo! The second episode is finally up. Sorry for the long wait.
Again, my English isn't perfect so I apologize for any typos and grammatical mistakes you might find in this particular episode.
Enjoy!
[Edited version: March 2016]
Episode 2
You are you! What's Important is to Stay True to Yourself!
Pii-pii-pii-pii-pii!
Reina was awakened by the familiar noise. The girl slowly opened her eyes and stared blankly at the white ceiling.
"A dream..?" She muttered.
Her eyes still felt heavy. 'Mm, just 5 more minutes…' she mentally said to herself as she couldn't resist the drowsiness and slowly closed her eyes again.
Just then her phone suddenly rang again, but with different kind of noise. "Good morning! Rise and shine!"
Reina groaned as she covered her head with the blanked to block the sound. So noisy.
"Wake up!" With a soft pop, Pixel came out from the phone. He landed on top of her and started tugging the blanket. "Waaake uuuuup~~!"
After a short tugging war, Pixel finally managed to pull off the blanket. Without the blanket blocking her vision, she was now face to face with the noisy, plushie-like fairy, who hovering in the air above her.
She stared at him for a while before she suddenly raised her arm and grabbed the startled Pixel. She pinched his checks and felt its texture that was surprisingly elastic and soft, almost like a baby's skin. On the top of that, it felt real. "It's not… a dream."
"Owowow- Of course it's not! Geez, just how long do you plan to keep denial of my presence?" The fairy said as got away from her and then rubbed his hurting cheeks.
"Sorry, sorry." She chuckled as she got up.
Right, after everything that had happened yesterday… If it had been a dream, t would have been strange if she could still every single detail of it: Pretty Cure, monster and Infinity.
….
"Cure Actor?"
The red haired man cladded in black suit muttered the name under his breath.
"She's the legendary warrior, Pretty Cure! We won't let you do as you please, Infinity!" Pixel shouted as he hovered beside Reina, who was in Cure Actor form.
"Legendary warrior, Pretty Cure, huh?" The man repeated slowly and then turned around. He raised a hand and a black tall hat suddenly appeared out of the thin air. He put it on his head then glanced coldly toward Actor and Pixel. "The name is [Tvo]. Consider you're lucky this time. Next time will be your end."
…
"Say, Pixel…" Reina began as she looked down at her now-white-and-beautifully-decorated phone, the [CureVice] in her hand. "What is Infinity? Why are they attacking us?"
"I'm not pretty sure myself." Pixel frowned. "No one knows, even the Queen herself, what they actually are, or what they are up to. By the time we realize there was something wrong with WonderWorld, they had completely infected the server. We can't reach out to your world like we used to be. The human world is slowly getting engulfed in misery and our world has also been severely damaged because of this."
The little fairy put his hands on top of hers then looked at her. "Please, Reina, lend us your power!" He pleaded. "We fairies don't stand a chance against them. Only the Pretty Cure can fight against them! Only you can!"
The two looked into each other's eyes. Her mouth opened slowly as she began, "Why? Why me? I mean, there's nothing special about me. Why did I even get chosen?"
"You see, we've been looking for humans who are able to send through positive energy, happiness, to others with WonderWorld, and you're one of them!" He explained.
"Me? Happiness?"
Pixel nodded. "Yes, I've been monitoring your activity on WonderWorld for a quite some time. You are a kind soul. You have a lot of friends, and I noticed how much you cared about them. From your words, I can see you always think of the other party's feeling before replying. When they're down, you always encourage them. You might have not noticed it, but you've saved a lot of people from drowning in sadness."
Reina's face reddened because of the unexpected praises coming from him. "I- It's not like that… I was just, talking, chatting with them to kill some free time."
"Yesterday you were able to transform into a Pretty Cure and heard Shiranee's-, no, the victim's [inner voice]. That's the proof of your capability to link your heart with theirs and reach out to them."
"I see…" Reina replied quietly. She felt bashful hearing how high this little fairy was thinking of her. Felling that she couldn't bear to continue this kind of conversation, she hurriedly stood up and got away from him while muttering, "I'm going to be late for school."
Pixel watched the girl preoccupying herself with school preparation and running around the room. He tilted his head and mumbled. "Although… you seem kinda different from what I imagined you'd be..."
Reina still couldn't completely grasp what a Pretty Cure was capable of, but it seemed like purifying a Shiranee didn't only destroy the monster but also affected the victim's heart… in a good way. The infamous grumpy teacher, Mr. Sanada, seemed to be really in a good mood today. He hadn't scolded her for being barely on time for class (no she wasn't late, but the usual him would have still scolded her and given her long lecture about how a student was supposed to arrive at least fifteen minutes before the class began so that she would have time to prepare her mind and so on). He didn't give the students who had forgotten to do their homework as many detentions as he would normally do either (two copies of the homework instead of four by the end of the school hour).
She overheard the boys whispering about how he might have hit his head during the commotion yesterday.
Mr. Sanada also gave a quite surprising assignment which had the students working in pair to create a presentation of their own interpretation of any Japanese literature of the students' choice. He had never given such assignment before as he normally would just give long boring lecture and mountain of homework aftermath.
Whatever had happened to this teacher, the students were very pleased with the current Mr. Sanada because, yes, for once, they weren't forced undergo boring lecture.
This, however, become quite troublesome for Reina. As a loner, finding a partner to work with was a pretty difficult task for her. Most of her classmates had formed partnership right away as a normal student would at least have one person whom they were close to, but clearly that didn't apply to her.
Eh, maybe she shouldn't have saved him.
Reina sighed as she shook off that bad thought and turned around to look for a partner. There should be at least one person who had trouble finding partner just like her.
There.
Several seats away from her desk, Reina spotted a long haired girl who was secluded from the rest of her classmates. The girl kept looking down on her notebook instead of trying to talk to their classmates.
'Here goes nothing.'
"Hey," Reina called out as she approached the silent girl. "Do you have a partner yet? Would you like to work with me?"
The girl was startled. She quickly looked up to Reina. Her eyes were barely visible, obstructed by her dark blue fringes. "No-, er, I mean, yes. Yes, of course. I'd love to. Thank you." She stuttered.
"Ah, nah…" Reina replied awkwardly. It seemed this girl was also socially awkward like her, if not worse. "Um, should we start then? Where do you want to do it? Here? Or over there on my desk?"
The girl looked around. It was pretty crowded since several classmates had been sitting around them. "Over there, I guess…" she squeaked.
"Right." Reina sighed. She then turned around and return to her desk. Her partner hurriedly gathered her pen and notebook and followed the former.
"Well then, Inuma, what should we pick?" Reina began after they both sat down.
"Ummm, anything's fine with me." Inuma said meekly.
Reina resisted an urge to roll her eyes. Seemed like Inuma wouldn't be stating her opinion actively in this. Reina wasn't really fond of taking initiative but this might take look if she didn't. She flipped through her textbook to find any story that looked easy to cover.
"What about this?" Reina suggested as showed her textbook to Inuma.
Inuma took a look at the book. "I'm good with it." She said after she read the title.
'Well, I guess she'll be good with anything.' Reina thought.
"I quite like this story, actually." Inuma added, much to Reina's surprise.
"You've read this before?" Reina asked, slightly taken aback. "That's good… I guess."
"Y- yeah, I like reading…" Inuma said bashfully.
Their partnership went better than Reina had expected. They advanced pretty fast thanks to Inuma's knowledge about the story they were covering: a modern literature entitled 'I am a Cat'.
As time passed by, Inuma became more active and started giving ideas.
"Um, what about making the presentation in unusual way that's easier to understand? Like a short manga for example… you know, with shorter dialogues that are easier to understand. The main character is a cat so I think it'll be cute…"
Reina tapped her chin and thought. "I think it's a pretty good idea. It'll be pretty handful work remembering we only have a week, but it will definitely look more interesting than a regular presentation."
"As for the drawings, um…" Inuma sounded hesitate as she twirled the blue pen in her hand.
"Oh right… I guess it'll be too hard to draw the comic ourselves. What about finding some pictures online and editing them to match the story? Well, the result might not be as good as a real manga but I think it'll suffice."
"…I guess you're right."
Reina raised an eyebrow at Inuma's restrained reply. It looked as if Inuma wasn't satisfied with her statement. She waited for a while, in case Inuma might want to add anything, but the latter said nothing.
"That's decided then." Reina finally said. She glanced at the clock; it's almost time for the class to end and so did her discussion with Inuma. All that's left was assigning tasks. "Inuma, since you know the story better than I do, can you do the rough plotting first? In the meantime I'll look for usable pictures for the characters and setting. We'll assemble the materials and start working on it tomorrow after class."
"Okay." The corner of Inuma's lips curved upward, forming a small smile. The trace of gloom Reina had seen earlier was no more. Was she just seeing thing?
The bell then rang, indicating that the class had ended.
"Oh, I've gotta go. See you later, Usami." Inuma hurriedly got up and returned to her seat.
Reina leaned back as watched the other girl walked back to her seat. Well, everything went more smoothly that she had expected. Inuma had looked sort of strange at times as if she had been holding back, but Reina decided to shook off that bad thought. She figured that both of them were introverts and communication wasn't their forte. It surely would get better next time.
The afternoon class finally ended.
Reina stretched her back then leaned forward. She exhaled deeply.
With the exclusion of Mr. Sanada's sudden change, school had been pretty much the same as usual. It was as if yesterday incident had never happened. Some students did talk about the monster that had suddenly appeared on the school ground, but seemed like no one knew how it had get there, or how it had disappeared later on without leaving any trace of destruction. There had been no witness except Mr. Sanada who had been found unconscious later on the scene after the monster had disappeared. He didn't seem to recall much about the incident though… which was really good for Reina as it would cause a trouble if people found out how she had transformed into a super hero… well, sort of.
Reina gathered her belongings, getting ready to go home. She then noticed that there was a notebook on her desk that didn't belong to her.
"Huh? This isn't mine." She looked around to find its owner, however, half of her classmate had gone home and none of the remaining ones looked like they were looking for it.
The CureVice in her pocket then suddenly buzzed. She took it out and saw Pixel in avatar form on the screen. It seemed like he wanted to say something so she connected an earphone to the CureVice and then tucked one of its ends to her left ear.
"It probably belongs to your literature partner." Pixel said from the other side of the line.
"Oh!" Realization suddenly came to her. She recalled how Inuma had brought a notebook over to her desk. That girl must have accidentally left it there.
Reina was about to thank the fairy when another realization came to her. "Wait, how did you know- Were you listening the whole time?"
"Well…" Pixel began. "I wanted to know you better so I figure I should just follow your daily life. Besides, I also want to know how people at school are doing after Infinity's attack yesterday."
"Is that so?" She deadpanned. Geez, he could have told her earlier. Now it felt like he had violated her privacy. "So? What did you find?"
"There were several posts made regarding the incident, but everyone's recovering from the shock in pretty fast pace, which is good. Also, it seems like no one finds out your secret, which is also great... It's just that…" Pixel trailed.
Reina looked at the small Pixel on the screen. "It's just that?" She repeated.
"Nn, nothing." He shook his head. "This isn't time to talk leisurely! Your friend might have gone home if you don't catch up quickly!"
"It's fine. Now that I know whose book this is, I'd just leave it on her desk." Reina shrugged. "It would be too much hassle to run after her just to give this back. She must have reached the school gate by now and I might not be able to catch up with her even if I start running now. Anyhow, if the book is really important, Inuma would return sooner or later to look for it. It will be best to just leave it here."
She inspected the book before putting it on Inuma's desk; just to double check whether it really belonged to the bluenette or not. She wouldn't be able to recognize Inuma's handwriting as they weren't that close, but there should be a name written in it somewhere.
She flipped through the pages and, boy, what she found there was surprising.
It quickly made her change her mind; she had to return the book now. She'd need to talk to Inuma as soon as possible.
"Inuma!"
The said girl turned around as she heard Reina's voice calling out from a far.
"U- Usami? What's wrong?" She was taken aback when she saw Reina running after her.
"Here!" Reina raised the book and shoved it toward the other girl. "You left it on my desk."
Inuma's eyes widened in surprise. She quickly looked into her bag and was flabbergasted when she found that her book wasn't in there. "Oh my God, I didn't even realize- Thank you!"
Reina smiled as she handed over the book. "I take it's pretty important to you."
Inuma's face reddened. She pressed the book, the sketchbook, tightly against her chest. "Did- Did you see the inside?"
"Oh, I'm sorry... I was just trying to check the owner." Reina said apologetically. Guess it wasn't something one would want to show to anybody. "But I think they're really good… your drawings. You are really skilled."
"T- Thank you." Inuma said sheepishly.
"You know," Reina began. "About the project, why don't we have you draw it instead?"
"Are you serious?" Inuma raise her head in respond to Reina's word. Their eyes met and Reina saw Inuma's eyes were sparkling.
So this was what she actually had wanted to do when she had proposed the short manga idea, huh?
The girl in glasses scratched her cheek. "Well, it will be a plenty of work, but if you're okay with that I'll try to help as much as I can."
"I'd love too! Thank you, Usami!" Inuma beamed. She then excused herself, saying that she wanted to go home as fast as possible so that she could start working on their project.
Reina waved at the other girl. Seeing Inuma smiled so brightly made her happy too. She was glad she had decided to go after Inuma. She was glad that her instinct was right.
"Hee… I thought you said that it would be too much hassle to run after her." Pixel's teasing voice rang in her head. She didn't notice that the earphone was still stuck on her ear even after all those running.
"Well… that's something that has to be done right away." Reina replied matter-of-factly.
"…"
"What's wrong?" Curious with the lack of reply from him, she took out the CureVice and turned out the screen. The fairy looked like he was deep in thought.
"Nah, I was just thinking." He paused for a while, contemplating whether to continue or not. He looked at her puzzled expression in silence before finally continued. "To tell you the truth, Reina, at first I was surprised to find how you were different from the one I saw in WonderWorld. You are quiet, distant and don't have any friend. You are nothing like the WonderWorld's REINA who are way more cheerful and always active in conversation."
Her brows twitched at the don't have friend part. "Are you… disappointed?"
Pixel shook his head slowly. "It's not that. Just like what I said before, I was surprised. However, I'm not saying that it's a bad thing. Sure, you are pretty different from my expectation, but just now I also felt warmth. You took the trouble to run after that girl because you had realized what would have made her happy. Sure, you're different, but you're still the same Reina. Thinking about that makes me feel glad we're able to become partners."
"… Stop that; it's embarrassing." Reina looked away. Her cheeks flushed red.
The fairy giggled seeing her getting all embarrassed again. Perhaps, rather than cold and distance, this girl was just an awkward kid who wasn't able to openly express herself.
"OH!" Reina suddenly gasped.
Pixel blinked in confusion. "What's wrong?"
"I forgot to exchange e-mail address with!"
"…Geez." Pixel shook his head again. Who would expect this smart-looking girl could be a klutz too at times?
Around the same time at the back gate, the blue haired girl called Inuma Aya was getting ready to go home. She held her sketchbook tightly against her chest. She couldn't stop smiling and her heart was still throbbing in excitement. She couldn't hide her happiness; it had been a long time since anyone praised her drawing.
She had been a big fan of manga and anime since for years and aspired to become a professional manga artist. At first people around her would have supported her dream, but as she grew up and enrolled high school, her classmates started calling her a freak and shunned her away. Since then she had been afraid to show her drawings in public.
That's why she was really happy now as there was someone who had seen her sketchbook but hadn't said anything ill about it. On the top of that, she was also trusted to draw the visual for their project. She couldn't be happier than this.
Inuma's mind started drifting away as she imagining what she should draw for their project: how would the characters look like, should she create the manga in four-panels format or a long one-shot, etc. She didn't pay much attention to her surrounding and accidentally bumped into a group of girls.
"Ouch!"
"Oh! S- Sorry! I wasn't paying attention!" Inuma quickly bowed.
The one Inuma had bumped into clicked her tongue in annoyance.
Inuma panicked. 'Oh, what should I do? What should I do? She seems to be mad.' She kept her bowing position, too afraid to look up.
One of the girls then scoffed. "Well, if it isn't Inuma…"
Hearing her name mentioned, Inuma slowly looked up. The girls in front of her turned out to be her former classmates from her first year.
"Hm? You know her?" one of the girls who stood on the back asked.
"You don't remember? She was in the same class as us last year."
"Oh, I remember," said the other, "She's the weirdo who sat in the corner the whole time scribbling god-knows-what."
"Ah.. that otaku?"
The girls raised their brows and looked at Inuma from top to bottom as if they were judging her appearance. They snickered when they saw the sketchbook in Inuma's hands.
"You're still doing that thing, huh?" One of them remarked.
They then walked pass the poor girl, giggling and laughing at her. "How disgusting."
Inuma clenched her fists as she tried to hold back her tears. She could still hear the girls' laughter from afar.
What was that? How could they be so mean to her? Why did they hate her? Why did they look so grossed out with her drawing? Was it wrong to draw? Was it bad to dedicate herself to something she loved? Was it wrong to be herself?
She had enough of this.
Her heart ached; her mind was overflown with negative thought. She needed let it out; she needed to talk to someone… but who? She didn't have any friend. Everyone hated her, alright? Everyone thought she was disgusting. She didn't have anyone to turn to.
The only thing she had was…
Inuma took out her phone and looked at it with teary eyes.
The only place she could run to was…
"This is bad!"
Reina stopped on her track. "What happened?" she asked in bewilderment as Pixel had suddenly jumped out of her CureVice.
The fairy flew several meters to the air. "I can feel it! This malicious energy… [malwave]…"
"What is that- Wait, don't tell me!" She gasped as realization struck her.
"It's shiranee!"
Just as Pixel said that, a loud cry was heard from afar. "Shiraneeeee!"
Reina quickly turned on her heels and ran toward the source of commotion. She made her way through the crowd of students who were running away to save their live and soon enough, a sketchbook-shaped Shiranee came into her vision.
"Geez, two days in a row…" Reina grunted as she saw yet again another monster destroying the school ground.
"It takes a shape of a book again!" Pixel pointed out. "It must be either a student or a teacher again!"
Indeed the shiranee this time looked like a book again. It was slightly wider and thinner than the previous one though, and it's equipped with a pencil shaped weapon.
'Huh? That book… it looks somewhat familiar…' Reina thought as she inspected the monster's appearance.
Just as she thought that, a faint sob reached her ears:
"…why do they hate me? Why do they hate me drawing?" the monster's inner voice cried.
Reina's eyes widened. She knew that voice. She had heard it just a moment ago. "Inuma? But, why?" Last time she had seen Inuma, that girl had looked so happy. Why? How could Inuma turn into this?
"So we meet again."
Reina heard another familiar voice. This time it was an arrogant, deep voice. She quickly looked around to find the owner of that voice.
"Tvo…" She glared at the red haired Infinity commander, who had just appeared beside the monster.
The said man smirked. "Such a nice expression you had there. Why so angry? Is it because I destroy your school again? Oh, or is it because this is a friend?" He referred to the monster. "Or perhaps, was a friend?" The creepy smile on his face grew wider as he glared back at her with bloodshot eyes. "Don't worry, soon enough you'll join your friend and everyone else in defeat and misery."
"I won't let that happen!" Reina gritted her teeth as held the CureVice in front of her. A stylus snapped out from the back of the device and flew into the air. She caught it with her free hand and twirled it in her fingers. The end of the stylus lit up as she did so, creating shiny ribbon like trails around her.
She then stopped her hand for a moment and shouted out loud. "[Precure, Initialize!]"
Blinding lights appeared and engulfed her. She suddenly found herself floating inside the light and twirled around. The trails of light around of her shattered into pieces and showered her. The light fragments covered her body and turned into a pink and white dress with a deep pink heart shaped gem on her left chest. More pieces of light gathered and covered her legs, forming a pair of black stocking and white boots. She crossed her hands in front of her chest and then a pair of gloves materialized on them. Silver lights then swirled and circled around her waist, forming a belt. She tapped the left side of the belt; the CureVice materialized there, enveloped in a white pouch. She flipped her undone dark purple hair. It glowed and turned into pale purple, forming high twintails and intertwining into loose braids. Pink ribbons materialized on her hair, followed by a pair of silver heart-shaped earrings and a silver choker.
Her feet touched the ground. She crossed her hands in front of her face. Her pink eyes fluttered open as her fingers slowly moved away. She tapped the heart gem on her chest and turned around.
"[Download complete! Linking each of everyone's heart! Cure Actor!]"
Fully transformed, Cure Actor stepped her right foot back. She took a deep breath and then dashed toward shiranee.
"GO!" Tvo ordered the monster.
Shiranee charged back at Actor as it was told to. It frantically waved the giant pencil in its hand, trying to hit Actor with it.
Actor was forced to be on defense and had to block the continuous attacks with all her might. It was hard to hit the monster back because of the giant pencil was getting in her way. She had to change her tactic as frontal attack was impossible. She crouched down; focusing her strength on her legs then jumped high into the sky. Shiranee looked up following her, but then got blinded the sun. "HAAA!" Actor shouted as she delivered an axe kick and knocked shiranee down. She jumped back and landed several meters away from the monster. She cautiously eyed its movement.
'I have to save Inuma.' She mentally noted. 'Concentrate on her inner voice!'
"Nobody likes me. They think I'm gross..."
Just like Reina, Inuma was always alone in class. However, it wasn't necessarily because she preferred to be alone. She might actually want to have some company, to be accepted… but there was something that prevented her from blending with others.
"Is it wrong for me to draw?"
Right, Inuma loved drawing. She even drew in class. Could it be the reason she was casted away? No, why would people hate her just because she liked drawing? It was normal to get engrossed in thing one liked after all. There must be other reason…
"Why can't anyone accept me?"
Then perhaps… Perhaps her timing was off. Just like earlier during literature class, instead of looking for a partner she had kept drawing. Was that the reason why some people thought that she was a freak? Because she kept silent and avoided interaction with others? Because she preferred drawing over having conversation?
No, it wasn't like she chose to ignore her surroundings. She was just shy. She was too nervous to talk to others that she tried to preoccupy herself with something that could calm her down.
"I hate this. I can't stand this anymore. Why am I like this?"
'What a sad voice.' Actor thought. She still remembered, just several minutes ago, Inuma was smiling. The girl was happy when Reina praised her drawing. That smile, those sparkle in her eyes… she wanted to reach out to that girl once again.
Inuma was just wanted to be herself, and on the same time, to be loved as the person she was.
"Do you hate yourself? Do you hate yourself who likes drawing?" Actor questioned carefully in low toned. "Do you regret ever loving drawing?"
"…N-no! I never think about that! I love drawing… it helps me expressing myself: my idea, my thought, my feelings… I can be myself the most when I'm drawing…"
"In that case, show them! You say you can express yourself through drawing, then use it to relay your feelings. Show them what you're really are. Show them what you want. A picture worth thousands words after all."
"But… Can I do that? I never ever show my drawings to anyone. What if it makes them detest me more? What if it grosses them out?"
"Oh, I'm not saying that it's an easy thing. It might even be really hard to realize and not everyone might be able to understand… However, as long as you don't give up, as long you stay true to yourself and your love for drawing, I'm sure you'll be able to find someone who is capable to receive your raw emotion as a whole." Actor smile softly. After all, Reina too, even just a bit, was able to find the beauty in Inuma's drawing. "Someday, surely…"
Shiranee stopped rampaging as its yellow eyes dimmed.
"Now's the chance!" Pixel shouted.
Actor clasped her hands on her chest and closed her eyes. She tried to gather all her feelings for Inuma and prayed that it would reach the latter. "Sadness, pain, and worries… I'll embrace all of them! Precure Dramatic Synchronize!"
The monster was successfully purified. Its gigantic body glowed and turned back into Inuma. Actor quickly caught her before she hit the ground.
"Not again!" Tvo clicked his tongue as he took a step back and disappeared.
"Good job!" Pixel cheered as he flew toward her partner. "I think you've started to get a hang of it."
Actor smiled then gazed at Inuma's unconscious face. "I'm just glad we're able to save her. She has suffered a lot, hasn't she?"
Just then a small light emerged from Inuma's chest. It floated in the air like for a while like a firefly before it went into CureDevice.
"What's that?" She asked.
"This is called [Bits of Happiness]. Just like its name suggest, it's born from human's happiness. It's a form of energy that keeps the fairy world running." Pixel paused, his expression became more serious. "Normally, it could be obtained by maintaining the human world's peaceful life through WonderWorld, but now that the server was damaged by Infinity, our world's source of energy has been cut off and both of the worlds have been getting weaker because of it. The only way to produce Bits of Happiness right now is by purifying shiranee."
"I see."
"Anyway," Pixel cleared her throat. "First thing first, we should rest Inuma somewhere. I think she'll regain her consciousness soon."
"You're right." Actor looked around and saw a bench nearby. She decided to lay Inuma down there.
"Here." Pixel handed over Inuma's sketchbook he had picked up to Actor. Apparently it had been blown away when Shiranee had been running wild earlier.
"Thank you, Pixel."
Just as Actor bend down and was about to put the sketchbook in Inuma's hands, the latter slowly regained her consciousness and opened her eyes.
"Huh? What happened?" Inuma asked weakly. "I think… I just had a very bad dream…"
"It's okay now." Actor assured. She then handed the sketchbook to the other girl. "Here. This is an important thing for you, right? You should hold it close to you."
Still in a daze, Inuma blinked several times before she took the sketchbook from the mysterious girl. "T- thank you."
Actor smiled once again before she straightened her back. "Take care." She then took Pixel with her and walked away as the other girl watched her back in silence.
The next day…
"Good morning, Usami." Inuma greeted while trying to suppress a yawn as she approached the said girl who had arrived before her.
"Good morning." Reina replied. She took a quick look on the Inuma's face. It seemed like the latter had suffered from lack of sleep. "Is the project too much work, after all?" She said while looking a bit apologetic for making her partner did most of the difficult work.
"Ah, no, no, it's fine!" Inuma quickly shook her head. "It's progressing really well. Most of the character designs are done. It's just that-" she yawned again. "I- you see, I got caught up in another thing." She said sheepishly.
"Another thing?" Reina slightly tilted her head.
"That's… w- well, I sort of got a story idea yesterday, it's completely unrelated to our assignment, really, but I just can't help sketching down the draft." Inuma explained, looking embarrassed. "Um… wanna see it? P- Promise me you won't laugh though!"
"Uh, sure?" Reina replied a bit uncertainly.
Just like Mr. Sanada's case, Inuma's mood seemed to have become a lot better after she had been purified with Cure Actor's power. However, Reina hadn't expected it would have changed Inuma this drastically though. Indeed she had told Inuma to show people her drawings, but to accomplish that in just one day? That was such a huge leap!
"Here you go." Inuma handed over her sketchbook. She then crossed her fingers and watched the purplehead nervously.
Reina flipped the pages and began to read the draft:
The main protagonist was a teenage boy who aspired to be a singer. However, he was too shy to sing in front of the crowd. Other talents who didn't like him made fun of him for being incompetence. One day after vocal practice, they gang up on him and told him to give up on his dream because he was just too hopeless. They took his musical sheets and threatened that they'd rip them into pieces. Suddenly, a mysterious guy came into the scene and took the sheets. He was handsome and tall. The mean group was flabbergasted when they saw him. It turned out this guy was a famous singer. They quickly excused their selves, leaving the protagonist and the cool guy alone. The cool guy turned to the protagonist and stared at the latter. He then raised his hand. The protagonist flinched and closed his eyes because he thought that he was about to get hit. However, it turned out that the cool guy just meant to return the music sheets to him.
"Here." The cool guy said as handed out the sheets. "Such important thing… You've got to hold on tight to it"
"T- Thank you…"The protagonist looked up and blushed as he watched the cool guy walked away.
…
Reina's eyebrows twitched. This scene… no matter how one looked at it, wasn't it too dramatic for boy-boy interaction? What's with all those roses and lights in the background? On the top of that, wasn't it eerily similar to what had happened yesterday?
"How was it?" Inuma asked as she looked at Reina with puppy eyes.
"Erhmm…" Reina smiled stiffly. "How should I put this into words… I'm surprised by the caliber of your artistic skill."
"Thank you." Inuma beamed. "You see, yesterday I met this very cool girl. Seeing her made me think: how cool, I want to be like that too. It gives me inspiration to make a story about it."
"But why male characters? You said it was a girl."
"That's because it'll be more interesting that way. Handsome characters supporting each other and becoming closer as they overcome hardship… It'll be soooo beautiful." Inuma cupped her flushed cheeks and gazed at the ceiling with dreamy look.
Reina watched the other girl in bewilderment. To think that Inuma would be this weird...
Oh well, what's important was that Inuma had found her happiness back and smiled again, even brighter than ever. Cure Actor had successfully purified the misery, and Reina was able to help her fellow classmate even just a bit. Everything was good… right?
That's all for now! This episode ended up to be pretty long again, I hope it met your satisfaction! Please review and rate! I'd love to hear your opinion. Concrits and corrections are always welcome n_n
Thank you for your time and see you again soon ! :D
