Hello there! Sorry for the wait, the third episode is here!

I'd like to announce a few changes I'll be making from now on:
- The keyword
sadness will be replaced as misery.
- Pixel will stop using –piku at the end of his sentences. It's getting silly and making his lines harder to read. Please just pretend that he's still talking like that :'D

I have updated the first two chapters according to these points above. I also changed the scenes a bit (adding/removing some dialogues here and there) so that the story flows better. They're nothing major so you don't need to reread them if you don't feel like to :)

Enjoy!


Episode 3

Freshly brewed! A sweet vanilla latte to warm up your lonely heart!

Tap-tap-tap.

Tvo's black brogue shoes made a slow rhythmic sound as he walked along the dark corridor.

Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta.

Lighter footsteps echoed through the room. It came from the opposite end of the corridor. Tvo halted. He squinted his eyes on the darkness before him.

"Who is it? Show yourself!"

"My, if it isn't Tvo the loser." A jolly, boyish voice rang.

Tvo's brow twitched in annoyance as he heard the boyish voice. "What do you want, Drei?"

A tan skinned boy came out from the shadow. He wore a similar suit as Tvo's, though with a pair of shorts instead of trousers, and his hat was decorated with golden ribbons that matched his blond hair. His amber eyes narrowed as he grinned.

"Nooo~thing in particular. I just wanna see how the loser's doing." The boy called Drei said mockingly.

Tvo clenched his fists and glared at Drei. "Get lost."

"So scary, so scary~" Drei's smile grew wider. "How does it feel? Losing to a girl two times in a row? Pretty pathetic, isn't it?"

"Shut up." Tvo hissed dangerously.

"Make me."

The redhead grimaced as he rushed toward the boy and pulled the latter by the collar. Even so, the smile on Drei face didn't waver even a bit.

"Stop." Cold voice rang through the corridor. A figure appeared from the shadow. He was around the same height as Tvo, but his built was notably more slender. His skin was pale, in contrast to his collagues' and his wavy dark teal hair under his tall hat was like sea at night.

Tvo clicked his tongue as he saw the third figure. He then glared at Drei for the last time before he pushed the blond boy away and turned away.

"Heh!" Drei sneered as he watched the readhead left. "Loser."

"Drei." The third man said in warning tone.

"I know, I know. You don't need to be so alarmed, Viar." Drei raised his hands. "Don't worry, I'm different from that incompetent Tvo. I already have a plan to get rid that Pretty Cure girl."

"What matters most is the result." Viar said sternly. "Prove it that you're more than just talk."

"Yes, sir." Drei took of his hat and curtsied. He then teleported away.

"The faster the better." Viar muttered alone. "We can't afford to make Master Einn wait too long."


"I'm soooo sorry to make you wait!"

An auburn-haired woman clapped her hands together in front of her face then bowed before a younger girl.

"Nah, it's alright." Reina said to the first woman, who was none other than her aunt.

"I'm really, really sorry, Reina. Just when I promised you we can watch movie together on my day-off."

"It's okay, really. We can still catch the evening show." Reina tried to reassure her aunt, who was now in panic because the latter suddenly got an urgent call from her workplace. "You should go now. You can't keep your patient waiting, can't you?"

"Uuuh…" Her aunt still looked unwilling to leave, but then she nodded at Reina's words. "I'll call you later. I should be done before five."

"Yeah…" Reina smiled and waved her hand as she sent her aunt off. She then sighed once her aunt was out of her sight.

Reina's aunt was a doctor at the local hospital. She was busy and only had a day-off once in a while. Today, her day-off happened to be on Saturday so she promised Reina to take her to the movie to watch… or at least, that was the plan. Just now she had gotten an emergency call from the hospital and had to go back there.

'Oh well, it can't be help…' Reina said to herself as she looked around. They were already at the downtown and she didn't feel like going back home just to go there again later, so she decided she would just wait somewhere.

The coffee shop was pretty crowded because it was Saturday that she barely got a place there. Actually, she would prefer an indoor seat because the weather was still a bit chilly, but all other seats inside were taken. She sat down at the only empty table near the fence, where she could see people passing by on the street. She sipped her hot vanilla latte as she took out her laptop. She glad she had taken it with her.

Just then her phone vibrated and Pixel appeared on the screen.

"Your aunt seems to be really busy, eh?" He said through the loud speaker.

"It can't be helped…" Reina replied as she blankly stared at the loading icon on the laptop screen. Her aunt was a doctor after all; it's just how her life was. It can't be helped.

"Hmm…" Pixel mused, then with a small pop sounded he got out from the phone.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Reina protested.

"It's fine. People won't find out as long as I stay still." Pixel said as sat on empty seat beside her. He did look like normal stuff animal when he was like that. "Isn't it just lonely to sit by yourself?"

Reina sighed then looked back at the laptop screen. "Do as you like."

Pixel smiled. He watched her exchanging messages with her online friends on W2 site. Life has been upside down for her lately that she didn't have much time to manage her account.

"You have many friends there, but why none of them are from your school?" He asked.

Reina's fingers froze. "How do you know?"

"We admins of WonderWorld have the privilege to get all kind of information. It's not just yours; we investigate everyone's account to find Cure candidates." He explained.

Reina contemplated for a while. "Well…. As you can see I don't have many friends to exchange friend code." She admitted while trying to hide her bashfulness. "Besides it's just embarrassing…"

"Why?" Pixel tilted his head.

Reina stole a glance at Pixel before she continued. He noticed how her face had become sour. "You said it yourself, didn't you? That I looked different from the me in W2. To tell you the truth, I'm aware of that myself, and I'm sure the others will notice that too once they see my W2 account. I don't want people at school think I'm a freak."

Pixel hung his head and tried to think over her words. One couldn't truly understand other's heart if it's kept hidden. She was able to hear people' heart voice, yet she herself never opened up to anyone. She wouldn't be able to find a true friend if she kept hiding in her comfort zone. Was it okay to live like that? Was it sufficient to make her happy?

Felling that it wasn't wise to force the topic on her, Pixel decided to let it slip for now. He leaned back and faced sideway. He watched people passed the coffee shop. Couples, group of friends, families, and sometimes a lonewolf; there were many kind of people gathered in one small town. Whether to keep their selves companied or on their own, each of them had their own preference.

Human beings were hard to understand.

A certain person then caught his attention. A girl was walking with weird manner. Sometimes she would bump into others and after that she would frantically apologize. The cause of this was probably the big amount of luggage she was carrying. Her unnaturally long fringes might also make it hard for her to see the street clearly.

"Isn't that your classmate, Inuma?" Pixel pointed out.

Reina looked up from her laptop then turned to the street. She spotted the bluenette right away. "Oh, you're right."

"Shouldn't you call out for her?"

"Nah, it's too much hassle. Beside I don't wanna bother her either." Reina replied as she straightened her back, took a sip from her glass then turned back to her laptop.

'There she goes again…' Pixel sighed inwardly. What a waste, just when he thought she finally could make some real life friend. Reina had gotten a bit closer to Inuma thanks to the group project this past week and Inuma herself had opened up a bit to Reina by showing more drawings… But then again, Reina just never showed a sign that she wanted to be part of society.

Oh, come on! You need at least a friend or two in your life!

"Inuma!"

Reina fingers stopped on their track as she heard a voice that was extremely similar to hers calling out to her classmate. She quickly turned to the source of the voice, which was no other than her own phone that was left on the empty seat where Pixel had been some moment ago. She picked up the phone and saw Pixel grinning ear to ear at her. He apparently had generated a voice similar to Reina's and called out to Inuma.

"What did you just-"

"Oh my, Usami! Good afternoon!" Reina's words were cut by Inuma, who suddenly had appeared next to the fence.

"Ah, uh, good afternoon." Reina replied hesitantly as she quickly hid her phone into her bag.

"What a nice coincidence. What are you doing here?" Inuma asked as she looked around the coffee shop. She noticed how the shop was full of couples and her face suddenly reddened. "Oh, don't tell me, a date? I'm sorry if I bothered you."

"No, no, that's not it. I'm waiting for a family member here." Reina quickly denied.

Inuma sighed in relief. She then saw the empty seat beside Reina. "Um, do you mind if I join?"

"Oh, uh, sure?"

Inuma smiled brightly as she heard Reina's reply. She made a small detour around the fence to find the entrance then walked back to Reina's table once she's inside. She noticed Reina laptop as she sat beside the latter.

"Is that W2? Oh, I didn't know you like W2 too."

"Oh, this," Reina hurriedly closed her laptop to prevent Inuma from seeing her homepage's content. "I'm just reading some news to kill time."

"I- I see…" Inuma replied as she looked down. Her previously bright face lost its radiance. She must have felt rejected by Reina's reaction. The air among them suddenly became awkward.

Reina felt bad so she tried to change the topic. "Um, what are you doing here, Inuma? Shopping?" She point out at the paper bags Inuma placed next to her feet.

"Y- Yes. I was stocking up my drawing equipment. There is a really nice art store just around the corner. They have a lot of good brands. They even have a complete selection of screentones I was looking for." Inuma took one of the paper bags, then took out some screentone sheets and show them to Reina.

Reina felt relieved that Inuma somehow had become cheerful again when she talked about the art store and her newly bought drawing equipment. It was a wonder how she became really happy just by talking about her interest. She was such a simple girl, and strangely, Reina found it a good thing.

"I was also looking for a new sketchbook since the last one is already full." Inuma continued as she took out the new sketchbook. It had light blue cover and was in the same size as the previous sketchbook she had.

"Do you mind if I draw here?" She asked. Her fingers are apparently itching to try out her new sketchbook.

Reina shook her head. "Go on."

Inuma then took out a pencil from her bag and started drawing some cute animal doodles on the first page. Her face suddenly became serious as she focused on her drawing. As time passed by, she leaned more and more forward to the point there was only 20 centimeters gap left between her face and the sketchbook. Her long fringes fell on her face, completely obscuring anyone from seeing her eyes.

Reina wondered if Inuma could even see like that.

"Could you even see like that?"

Inuma quickly looked up, but that wasn't Reina. Pixel had, once again, deliberately spoke up in her partner's place. Reina glared at the phone that had been peeking out of her bag.

"Oh this… I guess it has really grown too long, hasn't it?" Inuma said as she touched her fringes. "I've been meaning to get them trimmed, but I can't go to the hairdresser since I have spent my entire allowance on drawing equipment… and I don't have the gut to cut them myself." She admitted shyly.

"Well then, why don't you try using a hairclip? Wait a minute, I think I have some in my bag." Reina unzipped the front pouch of her bag then took out a blue hairclip. "Here, you can use it." She said as she handed it over to Inuma.

"I- Is it okay?" Inuma asked as she nervously took the hairpin from Reina. The latter nodded. "Thank you!"

"Also, I think you should try to tie up your hair too later." Reina added, making a gesture at Inuma's waist-length hair.

"I will. Thank you!" Inuma beamed. She clenched the hairpin in her hand as she stood up. "I'll go to the restroom to put this on-"

CRASH!

The bluenette accidentally bumped to a waiter when she just about to turned around. The tray in the waiter's hand slipped and crashed on the floor.

"I'm sorry, Miss!" The waiter apologized in panic. He quickly squatted down to gather the pieces of broken cups on the floor.

"No, it's my fault! I'm sorry!" Inuma apologized back. She also squatted down to help the waiter but he quickly stopped her.

"It's dangerous to touch the glasses. Just let me handle it, Miss. You can return to your seat."

"B- but..."

"It's okay. It's also part of my job." The waiter smiled, try to reassure his customer. However, the smile on his face vanished when he saw stain of coffee on Inuma's paper bags. "Oh my God, the bag! I'm sorry, Miss! I'm really sorry!"

Inuma looked at her bags. At first she panicked too, but then she remembered that each of the goods were also wrapped in plastic packaging so they should be fine even if they got poured with coffee. "I- It's okay, Sir. There was plastic wra-"

"What happened here?" The manager suddenly showed up. He looked at the mess then glared at the waiter. The waiter's face turned paper white. "You're bothering our customers! Clean up this mess right away!"

"Y- Yes Sir!" The waiter quickly gathered up the remaining pieces of the broken glass. Some of them pricked his hand but he was too scared of the manager to stop. After that he quickly stood up and brought everything inside.

The manager sighed then looked at Inuma, causing the girl to hold her breath. His stern face, however, suddenly softened as he bowed down. "We truly apologize for what happened. We'll find replacement for your bags as soon as possible. Meanwhile, please have our house special cheesecake as compliment." He gestured at a waitress who stood nearby their table and she quickly served the said cake to Inuma. Both the manager and the waitress then politely excused their selves.

"What should I do? It's all my fault…" Inuma bit her nails as she thought of the poor waiter.

"Let's hope he'll be fine." Reina, who had been watching in silence, said. Honestly, she couldn't be sure of what would happen to that waiter. She then shifted her attention to Inuma's belongings. "Hey, are the goods ok? We should check them, just in case."

"You're right." Inuma nodded in agreement. She then took out all the goods from the wet bags and with Reina's help, started checking them one by one.


"Found ya~" Drei whistled as he spied the coffee shop Reina's at from a nearby tree. "Now, all I need is some nice sorrow." The blond Infinity commander looked around. A smile the appeared on his face as he spotted a certain waiter walked out from the shop's backdoor.

The waiter leaned back to the wall as he sighed. His ears were still ringing from the manager's scolding. This was his third mistake in this month. He didn't think the manager would forgive him this time. He would surely get fired, again… and this was the only coffee shop in town who would hire such a clumsy man like him.

There goes his dream to become a barista and start his own shop in the future.

Ahhh, this sucks. Everything sucks.

He sniffed as he tried to hold tears from pouring down. He fished out his phone and mindlessly wiped the screen with his bandaged thumb. The throbbing pain on his hand was a proof that he was alive.

Alive? Someone like him who couldn't even do anything right? Let alone opening up his own shop, he can't even serve a customer properly.

He wanted to just disappear from this world.

"Right, a trash like you should just disappear from this world."

With his shaking hand he typed down a certain line.

[I'm tired of all of this. It's better to just disappear.]

Drei, who had been watching the poor waiter from afar snapped his fingers. A black aura then suddenly came out from the waiter's phone then engulfed his body. He laughed maniacally as the black thing before him grew bigger and turned into an omnious looking monster with kettle-shaped head.

"That's right. If you don't want your life that much, they you should just as well hand it over to us. Everything's for Master Einn!"


A loud explosion suddenly occurred behind the coffee shop. People started screaming and running around in panic. It didn't take much time for Reina to figure out the cause of the commotion.

'Infinity!' The word rang in her head as she stood up and took out her CureVice from the bag. Her CureVice was vibrating like an alarm, as if Pixel was telling her that the cause of the explosion before was indeed a Shiranee.

"We should run away!" Reina said to Inuma as she grabbed hand the latter's Inuma's hand and run toward the shop exit.

"W- what happened? I- Is it another monster attack?" Inuma asked in confusion as Reina dragged her along to the street.

Reina nodded without looking back. "Most likely." Her gripped on Inuma's hand tightened as she felt the tension around her rising. She couldn't transform now. Not here, not in front of Inuma. She had to take the latter to a safe place first and then return as fast as possible to take care of the monster.

Inuma, however, much the Reina's surprise, suddenly stopped on her track and caused Reina to halt as well.

"Wha-?" Reina looked back at the other girl in bewilderment.

"Usami, you can go first. I'll stay here to help the evacuation." Inuma said.

"It's too dangerous!"

"Somebody have to warn the people about it!"

"But-"

Inuma held Reina's hand tightly as she tried to convince the latter. "It's okay. Pretty Cure will definitely come to our aid!"

Reina widened her eyes as she heard that statement.

"It's gonna be alright, so, please believe in me!"

Reina looked at the girl in the eyes. Inuma's eyes were burning in determination. How strange. She had never expected Inuma to be able to have that kind of face.

"Alright." Reina admitted her defeat. She then put her other hand on the top of Inuma's hands. "Promise me you won't act recklessly."

Inuma's face brightened up. She nodded excitedly before she let go Reina's hands. "Un!"

Reina watched Inuma's back as the latter run into the nearest building to warn people there about the monster's attack. She clenched her fists; they still felt warm.

"What a strange girl." She muttered under her breath as turned on her heel and started running again. She took a turn around the corner and went into a narrow alley. She took out the CureVice after making sure that no one was there.

Pixel came out of the phone and flew to her side. "Ready?"

She nodded and stared at the phone screen. Such a strange feeling; somehow she felt her body burning up.

Pretty Cure will definitely come to our aid!

Reina closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Wait for me. I'll definitely save everyone." She whispered to herself. Her deep pink eyes then shot open as she shouted at the top of her lungs.

"PRECURE, INITIALIZE!"


Back at the coffee shop, half of the building had been destroyed by Shiranee.

"Shiraneeeee!" The monster growled as it destroyed the counter.

"Nooo!" One of the waitresses, the one who served the cheesecake earlier, apparently was too late to run away and was left behind by both her employer and coworkers. She cried in agony as she saw the furniture getting smashed into pieces. "Stop it, please! I beg you!"

Drei laughed maniacally as he watched the woman pleaded. "Crush her!" He ordered Shiranee.

Shiranee followed the Infinity commander's order and walked up to the poor waitress. It raised his mug-shaped arm and swung it against the woman. However, just right before a collision happened, a pink flash suddenly dived under it and pushed her out of the way. The pink figure then caught the giant mug-arm with both hands. She pulled the monster's arm, causing it to lose its balance, then swung it around and threw it to Drei. The blond boy, however, skillfully dodged it. Shiranee caused a smoke of brown dust as it crashed onto the stack of grounded coffee behind Drei.

"There you are, Miss Cure Actor." Drei smirked as he recognized the purple haired girl in front of him.
"What you took so long? I even started to think that you might have run away."

Cure Actor glared at the unfamiliar Infinity commander. "Who are you?"

"My, how rude of me. I forgot to introduce myself." Drei said in fake politeness. He held his hat against his chest then curtsied. "My name is Drei," He straightened up his back, and then added, "And I came here to destroy you."

As soon as he made the declaration, the monster suddenly jumped out of the smoke screen and charged at Actor. She put on defensive stance to block the attack head on head. But then hot water suddenly poured out of its kettle-head's spouts. Actor was taken aback by the sudden attack, but she managed to jump to the side just in time to dodge the boiling water stream.

"Ugh!" She grunted as she hit the ground hard.

"A- Are you okay, Miss?" The waitress who happened to hide under the table next to her squeaked.

'Geez, why are you still here?' Actor mentally spat when she saw the waitress was still around. She then sharply turned her head to see how the monster's doing. Just as she had guessed, Shiranee was already charging toward her again. She swiftly grabbed the waitress, wrapped her arms around the latter and then threw their bodies to the opposite side of the room in order to dodge the second hot water attack.

"Hieeee!" The waitress shrieked as he saw the metal table where he had been hiding under before melted upon slightest contact with the hot water.

"Run! Now!" Actor shouted to the waitress as she gestured to the exit door which was just two meters away from them. "I'll divert the monster's attention and buy you some time, so you should use this chance to escape!"

However, instead of obeying the cure's order, the waitress suddenly grasped Actor's arm to stop the latter from charging back at Shiranee. "D- Don't!" She pleaded. "He's not a monster! He's actually a kind person. He won't even hurt an insect, let alone destroying our work place like this. This place is special for both of us, this was where his dream began. He… He… Please, I beg you! Please save him!"

'He?' Actor looked at the waitress and then at Shiranee. Did the waitress mean whoever this monster was before? Kettle, coffee shop, acquaintance of the waitress, how the commotion originally started at the back of the shop… It suddenly clicked in her mind as she realized who the victim probably was. "The waiter back then…" she muttered.

Actor turned to the waitress, who looked back at her with teary eyes. She took the latter's hand from her arm then squeezed it tight. "It's alright," she began. "I'll definitely save him."

"Shiraneeeee!" the monster cried as he once again charged at Actor.

Actor stood up and prepared herself to receive another attack of hot water stream. She planned to hit the monster just when it just before spray the water, but once again Shiranee surprised her with a different attack. Instead of hot water, the spouts now shot long ranged coffee-bean-shaped missiles at her.

"Shi-" Actor cursed under her breath as she changed her plan and threw herself in front of the waitress to protect the latter.

Consecutive explosions occurred as Shiranee fired its coffee missiles. Smokes raised and covered the entire room. After what felt like an entire minute, the monster finished firing every last of his missiles.

"Mission accomplished." Drei's laughter echoed through the now dead room. He said as he turned around. "I'm different form the incompetent Tvo. That trash doesn't even understand how to pick a high grade Shiranee. The deeper the misery, the stronger malwave it produces."

"Are you done?"

Drei froze. "No, it can't be!" He slowly turned back and was greeted by Shiranee flying toward his face at unbelievable speed. By the time he realized what was happening, he was already too late to doge the monster's metal head.

CRASH!

"WHAT THE HELL!" Drei groaned as he got sandwiched between the heavy monster and the hard floor.

The smoke thinned, revealing Cure Actor standing on her two feet… not to mention unscratched. Beside her, Pixel was holding a sort of glowing shield made of light.

"Don't you know?" Pixel sneered. "The stronger our belief, the stronger our light power becomes!"

"Shut up!" Drei hissed. He then pushed Shiranee away. "Move, you useless piece of metal!"

Shiranee growled lowly, but it was heavily damaged from the previous impact. It was also out of bullets.

"You stupid garbage!" Drei cursed as he kicked the weakened monster.

"He's not garbage!" Actor refuted. "And you don't have the right to call him so!"

"Oh, shut up! Every lowly human being are garbage! They're useless, incapable beings. They dare to talk big but then they give up right away once they taste failure." Drei jeered.

"That's not true! Giving up isn't an easy thing! If it was that easy… then we wouldn't suffer like this." Actor's words cause Shiranee to let out a weak cry in respond.

"Whatever! You'll pay for this next time!" Drei stuck out his tongue then vanished into thin air.

"What's that? Such a brat." Pixel shook his head.

Actor didn't pay much attention to Pixel's remark. Instead, she stepped forward then squatted next to the fallen monster. "That's right. If only giving up was easy, it wouldn't hurt this much. Especially when there's someone who has a high hope on you. You can't just betray their expectation, right?"

The waitress slowly got up and with shaky legs, she approached Shiranee. She sat down beside Actor and touched the monster gently.

"Hayato…" Tears rolled down the waitress' cheeks.

A…ki..ko… That's right… Our dream…. Our dream shop… We can't give up on that…

Actor couldn't help but smiled when she finally could hear Shiranee's voice of heart. She stood up then pressed her hands against her chest.

"Sadness, pain and worries… I'll embrace all of them! Precure Dramatic Synchronize!"

The monster was engulfed with light then it turned back to its original form, the clumsy waiter called Hayato.

"Hayato!" Akiko the waitress cried as she hugged Hayato's unconscious body. His face looked so peaceful that Actor believed that he would be alright now. He got a trusty partner that would support him both in good and bad times. No matter how many times he failed in the future, he would surely able to realize his dream.


"Usami!" Inuma cried out loud as she ran toward Reina and hugged her tightly. "I'm glad you're okay! I was so afraid I couldn't find you anywhere!"

"It hurts…" Reina muttered.

"Oh! Oh, um, sorry!" Inuma gasped then quickly released the purple haired girl. Her face turned read like a ripe tomato. "I'm sorry! I was just- So sorry! I must have made you uncomfortable!"

"No, it's okay. It's partially my fault to for making you worried." Reina shook her head. "Anyway, I'm also glad you're okay."

"Un." Inuma nodded quietly.

Reina took a side glance at Inuma, who was looking down to hide her red face under her long fringes.

"You were right…" Reina began slowly.

"Eh?"

"About Pretty Cure," Reina trailed. "She really came."

Inuma's mood lightened up as soon as the topic Pretty Cure was brought up. "Yes, yes, I've heard about that too. She has successfully defeated the monster again and save the shop staffs that had been involved in the incident." Inuma has completely forgotten about hiding her face and now was looking up with a dreamy look. "She's so cool."

"Cool, huh?" Reina repeated.

Inuma crossed her fingers then pressed it against her chest. "Warrior of justice, that's just too cool! I want to be like her too! She's so cool and strong and beautiful."

Reina sweatdropped. It was probably a wrong decision to talk about this. This otaku must have mixed up Pretty Cure with fictional heroes from anime.

Nevertheless…

"Thank you." Reina muttered softly. It was so soft that it was almost inaudible.

Thank you, for believing. Reina didn't want to admit it but hearing Inuma putting so much faith in her alter ego, Cure Actor, boosted up her confident to carry on her mission as the so-called warrior of justice.

"Eh? Did you say something?"

"Nothing." Reina shrugged.

Inuma tipped her chin. "Mmmm… I'm thought I heard something but, well, if you say too. It must be my imagination."

Reina's words were cut off when someone suddenly glomped on her, again.

"REINAAAAAAA!" The auburn haired woman cried out loud just next to the girl's ear.

"It- hurts- Uh, aunty…" Reina tried to push her aunt away.

Her aunt finally let go, but she was still holding to Reina's shoulders. "I was so worried when I heard about the attack. Oh, I shouldn't have left you there! What would I say to your parents if anything happened to you!"

Reina sighed. "I'm okay, really."

"We should get you checked just in case." Her aunt then noticed the other girl's presence. "Oh, a friend?"

"Uh, sort of?" Reina answered. To be honest she wasn't sure herself whether she and Inuma could be called as friends yet. Well, they had hung out together a bit but… uh, not sure.

"My name is Inuma Aya. It's nice to meet you, Ma'am." Inuma politely introduced herself.

"I'm Usami Mito, Reina's aunt. Nice to meet you, Aya!" Aunt Mito smiled brightly. Inuma blushed a bit when she called her by the first name. Nevertheless she smiled back in reply. "Say, why don't you come with us to the hospital? I'm a doctor so I can check you up together with Reina."

"I'm sorry, but I must decline your offer. I have to go home soon." Inuma said as she bowed down.

Mito gasped. "Oh, right, your parents must be sick worried about you! I'm sorry for holding you back."

"It's okay. Thank you for the kind offer, Mrs. Usami." Inuma bowed once again, then turned to Reina. "Thanks for today. It was fun."

"Oh wait!" Reina exclaimed to stop Inuma who was about to leave. She then turned to Mito and asked to give them time.

Mito nodded. "I'll be waiting at the hospital." She winked at Reina then waved at Inuma. "See you again, Aya!"

"Take care!" Inuma bowed at Mito's back. After the older woman had disappeared from their sight, she then turned to Reina. "Um, is there something wrong?"

"Ah, no, it's just-" Reina glanced sideway as she scratched her cheek.

"Oh! The hairpin!" Inuma gasped as she suddenly remembered about it. She hurriedly searched the inside of her pocket, but she couldn't find it anywhere. "Uwah! I'm so sorry; I think I left it at the coffee shop! I'll return it as soon as I find it."

"No, that's not it. It's okay, you can keep it." Reina tried to calm the other girl down.

"But-"

"It's okay, I was planning to give it to you anyway."

Inuma's eyes suddenly became teary. "T- Thank you! I'll treasure it!"

'Nah, it's not a big deal! It's just a regular, plain hairpin. You don't need to be that happy.' Reina thought to herself. She then cleared her throat, and tried to continue her unfinished line earlier. "Anyway…. Well, how should I put it? Thank you… for accompanying me today."

Inuma's eyes widened.

Uh, guess it just sounded weird, didn't it?

However, much to Reina's relief, Inuma replied with much positivity. "It's my pleasure!" The other girl said.

"And also…" Reina continued. "Your friend code…"

"Eh?"

"W2 friend code," Reina repeated. "You said it earlier, didn't you, that you liked W2 too. Let's exchange it later."

"Eeeh? B- but my account is full of embarrassing drawing, I don't think you might like to see them." Inuma's face turned red again.

"It's okay if you don't want to."

"NO, NO! I'd LOVE to!" Inuma quickly refuted. She then fished out her phone, but then… "Oh, I'm sorry, my phone ran out of battery…"

Reina shook her head. "It's ok, we can do it later."

"I'll email you the code as soon as possible!" Inuma promised.

'It's okay, really, no need to rush.' Reina thought, but decided not to say it out loud.

Inuma then stared at Reina's face, as if she was waiting for her to say something.

"That's all I want to say." Reina suddenly felt embarrassed and quickly turned around. "Later."

"Thanks for today! See you at school!" Inuma waved at Reina's back before she turned to the opposite direction and walked away in light steps.

Reina picked up her pace as she made a turn at the cross-sections. Somehow she felt more and more embarrassed along with each step she took. She started rethinking her decision. It was just… She was happy when Inuma had (indirectly) supported her and it made her want to do something in return. Inuma was a good girl and she thought it would probably be okay if it was that girl… even though that girl had strange liking and drew weird stuffs and posted those weird stuff and…

Oh God, maybe she shouldn't have done that! Her account was full of even more embarrassing things she couldn't possibly show to anyone. She wanted to hide a hole now!

"Heh heh."

Reina froze. What was that? What was that? THAT was Pixel.

She mentally slapped herself. She forgot he could hear everything.

"Hehehehe." The fairy couldn't stop giggling.

"Oh, drop it."

"Eh, about what?" Pixel said through the loud speaker.

Reina sighed as she continued walking down the road leading to her aunt's hospital. There's no way to make him stop now. He was in another dimension, out of her reached. She just wished he would get tired of this topic soon.

"Reina, Reina… I'm happy for you; you finally made a friend." Pixel made a sniffing sound as if he was crying.

Yeah, as if. Reina rolled her eyes.

"Oh, shut up!"


Hurrah! She finally made a friend! A real-life one!

Okay, so a lot of new characters are introduced here. I hope you guys didn't get confused by it. One thing worth to be noted was that we finally get to see the other two Infinity commanders, Drei and Viar. There was also a scene where they mentioned their leader's name, Master Einn. Just a little information that their names are based on numbers: Einn=1, Tvo=2, Drei=3, and Viar=4.

As for Reina's aunt, Mito, she's still single because she's too busy with her job as a doctor. She does regard Reina as her own daughter though! Wait, this doesn't mean Reina's parents are dead or anything. They are just living on other place. We'll see more of them when the time comes!

Anyway, that's all for now! I see some of you might be hoping to see Inuma as to become a new cure, but apparently it's not her time yet. Or maybe, she's better to stay as a cure-helper? She's been fighting on her own way too after all *winks*

Thank you for reading. Hope you like it. Please leave some review. I'd love to hear your thought on this particular chapter ^_^