Howdy! Thank you for the wait. Here's the long awaited (as if!) fourth episode! It's a bit longer than the previous episodes. I hope you enjoy it!


Episode 4

Scoop! The Target is Pretty Cure!

It was a wonderful morning in Kanazono. The weather was perfect; the spring air was refreshing, flowers were blooming and birds were chirping happily. It was a great way to start your day.

"Shiraneeeee!"

Well, it would have been great if only Infinity hadn't showed up so early in the morning.

"Precure! Dramatic Synchronize!"

The pink cure jumped high as she summoned her signature attack. The light flash hit a bicycle-shaped monster right on its forehead. The monster growled as it got purified and turned back into its' original form, a weary looking paperboy.

"Argh! so annoying! I didn't come here extra early just to lose again! You'll pay for this!" Drei cursed. The sore loser boy stuck out his tongue then disappeared into thin air.

After the Infinity general took his leave, Cure Actor and Pixel brought the paperboy to a nearby bench and let the poor boy rest. Actor mused as she watched the boy's resting face and recalled how Drei had suddenly showed up before her on the way to school and turned this poor bystander into a monster. Why in the world would Infinity even get the idea that attacking people would be a great thing to do in Monday morning?

"It's Monday and I feel tired already." She sighed as she placed her hands on the hips.

"Good work." Pixel said. He shared her sentiment, but he knew that he shouldn't complain about it as it was part of their mission to help people whenever and wherever they were.

After making sure the boy was okay, Actor then took out her CureVice and looked at the clock. She clicked her tongue. "Now I'm late for school." Judging by the distance and Reina's running speed, she wouldn't make it in time even if she had run for her life. A brilliant idea then popped in her head. She should just make use of her enhanced speed as a cure and then detransform to her civilian form once she was near the school. That way, she should make it on time before the gate was closed.

Yes, that would do. It shouldn't be a problem as long as she was careful enough not to be seen by anyone.

Once she made up her mind, Actor shoved her CureVice back into its case then proceeded to make a run to school.

"Wait, you're leaving in that outfit?" Pixel asked flabbergasted as she left without having told him anything about her plan. "Waiiiit!" He flew as fast as he could to catch her up.

Unknown to both of them, there was a shadow lurking behind the tree that had been watching them in secret. "So that's the rumored Pretty Cure, huh?" The figure mumbled as they stepped out of the shadow with a camera in their hand.


The school bell rung, marking the end of 4th period as well as the start of lunch break. Reina rested her chin on her hands as her eyed followed Mr. Sanada exiting the class. She sighed heavily. She still felt tired from the fight this morning. Pixel had joked that she should just counted it as morning exercise replacement and it had been good for her health but, really, as good as it could have been for her health, she would have preferred the old, peaceful morning. Thanks to Infinity (that stupid Drei brat!) she would stay tired for the entire week.

"Reina, let's have a lunch." A familiar blue haired girl approached said her. Reina looked up and her gaze met Aya. Ever since the two girls followed each other on WonderWorld, they've become even closer than before. One might say that they were friends now.

Reina's eyes fell on the blue lunchbox in Aya's hand. She sighed once again then got up. "Right..." She replied softly as she took out her own lunchbox from the bag.

"You look pretty tired. Did you not have enough sleep?" Aya asked in concern as she peered into the other girl's face. She had found out that Reina liked to stay up late online and usually suffered from lack of sleep in the morning.

"Nah, it's just that I had some business to attend this morning." Reina replied halfheartedly. She couldn't tell Aya that she had run into a monster on her way to school, could she?

"I see." Aya felt that Reina didn't really want to talk about it and decided to change the topic. "Say, why don't we eat outside? At the garden, maybe? The weather is very nice today."

"That's a good idea." Reina nodded.

A smile bloomed on Aya's face as she heard the positive replied. She then slide open the door to exit to the hallway, just to found out someone had been blocking the way. "Hiieee!" She shrieked as she almost run into the other person.

"Inuma Aya, I presume?" The girl before Aya said as she pushed up her glasses. She had short dark brown hair and wore oval-shaped glasses. She was taller than both Aya and Reina, and from her uniform Reina could tell that this girl was a third year. There was also a yellow band around her right upper arm with MASS MEDIA written on it. "I'm the newspaper club's president, Masuko Misa. May I have a word with you?"

"Y-y-yes." Aya stuttered under the pressure of the third year girl before here.

"Good. Follow me." Masuko turned around and walked away without giving Aya a chance to say anything.

"W-what should I do?" Aya turned to Reina for help; her face paper white. "H-had I done something wrong and made her angry?"

"I don't think so..." Reina narrowed her eyes at Masuko's back. She couldn't help wondering what this girl wanted from Aya. If she recalled correctly, the senior also mentioned that she was from the newspaper club. Just what in the world…

Masuko noticed that Aya hadn't move an inch. She looked back and tilted her head to the side, gesturing the latter to follow her.

"Reina…" Aya looked at Reina with pleading eyes.

Reina's brows twitched as she stared back at Aya's puppy eyes of Aya. "…fine, I'll accompany you."

Reina stepped ahead and followed Masuko, with Aya hiding behind her. Masuko didn't seem to mind having Reina tagging along and instead lead her two underclassmen to the newspaper clubroom.

"Come in." Masuko opened the door and let the two girls entered the clubroom, then walked inside and closed the door behind her. The room was significantly smaller than a regular classroom, but it still fit several tables that were gathered together at the middle of the room. On one side of the room, there was another desk with a set of PC on it. On the other side of the room there was also a whiteboard with papers and notes stuck on it.

"My apologies for taking your time. Please take a seat." Masuko said she walk around the tables and approached the whiteboard. She took one of the papers that were stuck on the board and hold it in front her chest. She eyed Aya, who along with Reina, had obediently sat down and was now looking up at the senior student with worried face.

"Inuma Aya," Masuko began. She looked at the paper in her hands then looked back at the said girl.

Aya gulped. "Y-yes!"

"There was a report that, two weeks ago, after school, you were attacked by an unknown man at the back gate. Is that correct?"

"Y-yes?"

"And then you got turned a monster."

"Uh, I guess?"

"And then you got saved by a girl called Pretty Cure."

"I-I think so…"

"Can you tell me the detail?"

Aya fidgeted, her eyes darted around the room, trying not to have an eye contact with Masuko. "Uuuuh... I don't really have any recollection about most of the event. I passed out, and only caught a glimpse of the Pretty Cure."

Masuko frowned, causing Aya to back away.

"I'm sorry, I really don't know what happened back then." Aya squeaked.

Masuko stared at Aya for a while before she spoke up, "Well, based on my investigation most victims don't seem to have any recollection about the attack. If what you're saying is the truth then I guess this is true." She walked to the PC then turned it on. "You said you saw a glimpse of the Pretty Cure, is that correct?"

"Y- yes!" Aya nodded vigorously.

The corner of Masuko's lips turned upward. She opened the folders then played a certain video. "Can you check this out for me?" She stepped back and let Aya to move closer to the PC so that the latter could see the video more clearly.

Reina's eyes bulged out as she saw a video of Cure Actor was played on the PC. Why? How? When? Just how on the earth did Masuko get a copy of it?

"I happened to run into the Pretty Cure's fight this morning." Masuko explained, as if to answer Reina's questions. She seemed to be very proud of it. Pretty Cure's fight had only been a rumor so far and so this was probably the first record ever made of it.

Meanwhile, Reina felt an urge to slam her head to the wall for being so careless. Just how far this record would go? What if Masuko also have a record of her transformation? What if she had found out her identity? What if she played that scene in this room?

"Inuma, can you confirm if it's the same person with the one that rescued you?" Masuko asked.

"Yes! Yes, it's her! That hairstyle and that outfit, I'm positive it's the same person." Aya answered, her eyes were still glued on the monitor, watching Cure Actor fighting against the bicycle-shaped monster

"Good." Masuko smiled in satisfaction as she tapped Aya on the shoulder. The latter didn't say anything in reply; she was too busy watching the video and had completely forgotten her surroundings.

Ignoring the fact that she was being ignored by the junior, Masuko then announced dramatically. "With this we can finally confirm that…"

'That..?' Reina gulped as she waited for Masuko to finish her sentence. She mentally crossed her fingers, hoping it wasn't about her real identity.

"…the Pretty Cure we've heard a lot about is…"

'Is..?' Reina involuntary held her breath.

"…a single person!"

"What?"

"Pardon?" Masuko looked questionably at the silent girl who had suddenly spoken up.

Reina quickly put her hand against her mouth. She racked her brain trying to find a way not to make herself sound suspicious as much as possible. "Sorry, I mean… What do you mean by a single person? Is that… a great find?"

"Of course it is!" Masuko huffed. She then flipped the whiteboard to show the other side of the board that had been kept hidden up until now. There was a map with several circles drawn on it with red marker. She slammed her hand on the board. "You see, in the past two weeks there have been several monster attacks all over Kanazono Town, as well as report of the sight of this Pretty Cure we're looking for. The size of our town was quite big so it was possible that there had been several Pretty Cures in the town. While there hadn't been any report of Pretty Cure's appearing on two or more different locations on the same time, the possibility wasn't zero either so I was important to confirm the number of them first. Thankfully, according to the testimony of the victims, we found similar descriptions, mainly light purple hair, fluffy twintails, and pink costume. Inuma was the last one to give her testimony and her description also matched the video I happened to get this morning, thus we can safely assume that there's only one Pretty Cure in Kanazono."

Reina stared blankly at her senior. Well, she applauded on how detailed Masuko's investigation was, but on the other hand this just sounded ridiculous. Like, was number even important? And it wasn't like it had been hard to learn that there had been only one her. Oh well, at least it didn't look like Masuko had found out about her secret identity, which was really good. To think again, if Masuko had figured it out, the senior would have dragged her instead of Aya.

Masuko's eyes twitched in annoyance. She could see that this junior of her wasn't really impressed by her finding. "Well, confirming the truth of all the data we have gathered is also part of our job as mass media. We can't publish mere speculations or rumors after all." She cleared her throat. "What about this then, I've also concluded that, most likely, the Pretty Cure is actually a student of our very school!"

Now, that was a news. It was surprising enough that Aya, who were previously too preoccupied with the video, also looked up upon hearing Masuko's declaration.

Reina raised a hand. "Excuse me, but where does that come from? Earlier you said the attacks took place all over the town, why would you suddenly focus on our school?" While Masuko's wild guess that this Pretty Cure was actually a student of their school was right, Reina just couldn't cope with how Masuko had come up with that idea. Earlier Masuko hadn't been even sure how many people the Pretty Cure had been.

Masuko smiled proudly, finally these girls paid a full attention to her. "You see," She pointed on one circle in the middle of the map, which Reina only realized actually drawn a little thicker than the rest of the circles. "The first two monster attacks, Mr Sanada's case and Inuma Aya's case, both happened in this school. Both also took place during school hours. Based on her appearance, there is a high chance that the Pretty Cure was still in her teen, a student, and since she appeared as soon as the commotion happened, that meant she must be around the school ground at those time, thus being a student of our school!"

"Err, it might be just a coincidence. She might just happen to be near our school, or rushed to our school just because she heard about the attacks." Reina refuted.

"How about this," Masuko pulled out a marker then drew a new circle to mark a new location. "This morning, after the fight, she seemed to be in hurry and headed toward our school direction." Masuko added a line starting from the new circle straight to the school. "What do you think?"

Aya tipped her chin as she tried to figure out what Masuko was hinting. "Hmm…. it looks like she needed to go somewhere else as soon as possible, and if she's really a student… then maybe she was heading to school!"

"Correct!" Masuko beamed. "There isn't any other school in this area so we can conclude that she headed to our school, thus, verifying my theory that she is a student of this school!"

"But there isn't anyone that look like that here, right? We'd notice right away if we saw someone as tacky as her." Reina tried again, hoping it would change their mind.

"Oh, it must be it, you know, cosplay." Masuko waved her hand. "Nowadays, superheroes movies and comics are quite popular and cosplaying as superhero characters is also pretty common lately. Just take off the costume and the wig along the way here and voila! she'd turn into a regular student. It can be anyone. It might even be you."

Reina stiffened at when Masuko suddenly pointed at her. "…Please don't joke around." She tried to act as nonchalantly as possible.

Masuko then went on; she didn't seem to pay much attention to Reina's odd reaction. "The problem is, I can't find anyone with the spec of the Pretty Cure. I browsed through the record of our students and couldn't find anyone that matched her strength or speed."

Well, since Pretty Cure's physical ability was inhuman, it was very unlikely for Masuko to find anyone that could reach Pretty Cure's level. Reina doubted that even pro athletes could rival it. Pretty Cure's body was magically enhanced; it was a good thing Masuko thought that her costume was merely a cosplay. If Masuko found out about the magical enhancement, then it would end up as 'It could be anyone' again and it would be really bad for Reina. Who knows, maybe next time Masuko would even try to find people who looked similar to the Pretty Cure or even checked her voice. Reina's basic appearance might be different when she was in Cure Actor form, but her face and voice were pretty much the same.

"Say, Senior," Aya suddenly spoke up.

"Yes?" Masuko turned to Aya and tilted her head.

"Um… why do you want to learn so much about Pretty Cure?" Aya asked. She still felt a bit scared but the curiosity won over.

Masuko blinked several time as if trying to understand Aya's question. "Isn't it ooooobvious?" She shouted out. "I'm putting it up in the school newspaper! SCOOP! PRETTY CURE'S IDENTITY REVEALED! STUDENT BY DAY HERO BY NIGHT! THE VERY SOLDIER OF JUSTICE BORN IN OUR SCHOOL! …or something around that line. Don't you think it'll be a hit? Pretty Cure has been gaining a lot of popularity lately, everyone on the internet are talking about her! Imagine if we become the first to find out about her secret identity! The newspaper club's starting to lose its standing in this school since everyone prefers searching news online nowadays. However, if this plan goes smoothly, the club will get a good impact and we regain our function as the source of latest news for the students!" The newspaper club president clenched her fists and added softly. "I might also be able to ask for a raise for our club budget in the next student council meeting..."

"Come again?" Aya asked as she couldn't hear the last part properly.

"Nn, nothing." Masuko grinned. "What about it? Are you by any chance interested in this?"

Aya waved her hands frantically. "O-oh, no, it's just that… I just think that it'll be nice if I can meet Pretty Cure once again. I still haven't thanked her for saving me." She said sheepishly.

"Aww… you're such a sweet girl, Inuma." Masuko patted Aya's head softly several times, and then suddenly wrapped her arm around the younger girl's shoulder. "Well then, why don't you help me with the investigation? That way we can find the Pretty Cure twice faster."

"Eh? Eeeeeh?" Aya shrieked. She tried to free herself but it was too late, she had fallen into Masuko's trap and there was no way escaping from the senior's grasp.

"You came just in time; we're running low on members. It's hard to do everything by myself so I'm reaaaally glad you came." Masuko smiled sweetly; it was so sweet that it made her look a lot scarier than how she had looked first time they met.

"Eeeeeeeeehhhh?"

Masuko then turned to Reina, who had quickly backed away as far as possible. "Well, what about you Usami-"

"I'm sorry, Senior, but I'm not really interested in prying into people's life." Reina quickly said, then opened the door behind her. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go now." She shot an apologetically look at Aya and rushed out of the room.

As if she would help Masuko learning about her secret!


"I see, so that's what happened." Pixel nodded repeatedly as he chewed a slice of rolled egg. "Thankfully, that Masako girl didn't see you transforming. It would have been a disaster if she had found out your identity."

Reina bit her lips as she imagined what it would be like if people found out that she was a Pretty Cure all along. "That'll be a bad."

"Yes, we shouldn't let innocence people get caught in our fight. They might end up in unnecessary danger." The fairy crossed his arms and nodded.

"I don't wanna be called a cosplay hero."

"That's your problem?"

Pixel rolled his eyes. He then took another slice of egg from Reina's lunch box and shoved it into his mouth. "Anyway, you shouldn't let your guard down from now on." He added while his mouth was still stuffed with food.

"Yes, yes…" Reina replied half-heartedly. Really, if he wanted her to be more careful of people's eyes, maybe he should stop eating her lunch leisurely on the first place. Who wouldn't find a talking gluttonous stuffed animal suspicious?

The girl sighed as she gave up on her lunch and let Pixel finished it instead. She leaned back onto the cold wall and closed her eyes. "I'm sleepy." She mumbled and started to doze off. The rooftop they were hiding now was deserted. No one came there during lunch break so it was quiet. The noise downstairs was barely audible, except for some shouting that came once in awhile.

She wondered about Aya. Was that girl able to get away from Masuko? Reina felt guilty for leaving her friend behind. It felt as if she had left Aya alone in a lion's den to save her own life. 'Well, it just couldn't be helped, right?' She tried to justify her act. There was no other choice; it would have turned worse if she had stayed there. If she had gotten caught as well she would have been under Masuko's watch 24/7 and it would become a lot harder to hide her secret.

Suddenly her trail of thought was disrupted by a loud explosion.

"Infinity!"

Reina's eyes shot opened as Pixel shouted out. The two looked around for the source of commotion and found Shiranee had just appeared on the baseball field.

"Really? Two monsters in one day? Geez, are they planning to exhaust me with successive attacks?" She grumbled.

"I hope not." Pixel replied. "That's aside; we should not waste our time here!"

"I know, I know." After making sure that they were really all alone there, Reina took out her transformation device and got ready to transform for the second time.


"Shiranee!" The monster cried out as it ran after the students. This time, it took form of a black digital camera and had the ability to turn anyone into stone statue using a flash attack that came out of the lens on its body.

The students scattered around in panic. They become even more terrified when they saw their friends got petrified by the monster's attack. Mr. Sanada and some other teachers tried to stop it from attacking the students, but they failed and were turned into statue in one shot.

"Stop it right there!"

The pink Pretty Cure shouted out as she dashed toward the scene. She jumped and kicked the monster down. After she sent it flying several meters away and crashed it to a tree, she quickly turned to the remaining students and told them use this chance to get away from there. "Quick, get inside!" She pointed at the school building. The students followed her order and run into the building as fast as they could.

"How horrible." She winced as she saw inanimate statues around her that were supposed to be her fellow students and teachers.

"Be careful, Actor, this one looks a lot stronger than those we faced before." Pixel whispered as he flew low around his partner.

"How do you like my new underling?" A red haired man suddenly appeared out of thin air and laughed.

"Tvo!" Actor scowled as she recognized then Infinity general.

"It's been a while, isn't it, Cure Actor?" Tvo curtsied. "I should thank you for kicking Drei's ass. Thanks to you that brat has become less annoying."

"I see you're still as annoying as ever." Actor jeered.

"As my gratitude, let me show you a whole different level of a Shiranee." He raised his hand and snapped his fingers. "This place reminds me of our first meeting; however, the result will be different from that time. This time, I will come victorious!"

Shiranee rose up as it heard Tvo's signal and charged toward Actor. Actor stepped back to dodge its fists, then ran around it to avoid the flash attack and kicked its rear. The monster staggered and lost its balance from the attack. She took this chance to launch more punches. After a series of high speed attacks aimed at its back, it finally fell to the ground and stop moving.

Actor landed on the top of the Shiranee and stared at its unmoving body. How should she put this? It was unexpectedly weak. It was slow compared to the previous ones and the flash attack was also quite easy to avoid as long she didn't fight it face to face.

Maybe it was just her getting customized to fighting?

Somehow she just couldn't shake of the bad feeling about this. Something wasn't right. The petrification ability aside, the monster's spec was too low for Tvo to be so confident about it.

Speaking of the devil, Tvo still had that smug grin plastered on his face. "Impressive! That was splendid! I see you've improved a lot." He said mockingly as he clapped his hands. "You're able to take it down in such a short time, expected from the legendary warrior, Pretty Cure."

As if triggered by his words, the monster suddenly growled. At first it was only inaudible murmur, but its voice got clearer and louder as its body started shaking.

"…Pretty Cure… More… I want to know more…"

Sensing danger in the monster's sudden change, Actor jumped back to put some distant between them. She frowned as she focused on the inner voice.

"Big scoop… Need to reveal… Pretty Cure's… secret identity!"

"Don't tell me!" Actor's eyes widened in surprise as she recognized the voice. "Senior Masuko? But how? Why?" Just a few hours ago Masuko was high-spirited and very determined to look for the Pretty Cure. How did she fall prey to Infinity?

In the midst of confusion, Shiranee suddenly rose up and flashed its petrifying laser toward Actor. It moved a lot faster this time that she wasn't able to counter attack and could only jump around to avoid the deadly attacks.

"Senior Masuko, why? What happened to you?" Actor tried to reach out to Masuko as she dodged another attack by a hair's breadth. "Weren't you looking forward to investigate about Pretty Cure?"

"How naïve." Tvo smirked. "Well, I guess you're still too green to understand this. Misery comes in many shapes. Ha, do you think only the pathetic people can feel miserable? Even the happiest person can't escape from misery. Hope, goals, expectations… everything brings misery in one way or another."

"More! I need to know more!" Masuko's inner voice cried out. "Who are you? What are you fighting for? What are you hiding? PRETTY CURE!"

"Senior!" Actor called out desperately.

This was bad. What should she do? What should she say in this situation? Masuko was clearly different from the previous victims; simple encouragement wouldn't work. What would be good? Should she just try to calm her down by promising to reveal Pretty Cure's secret later? Nah, an empty promise would be too risky. What if it made her more hyped instead? It might even backfire and deepen Masuko's misery if she found out that it was a lie.

Just what on earth should she do?

Actor was too caught up in her thought that she failed to notice another flash attack incoming. She jumped to the side but was a millisecond too late to completely avoid it. As a result, the light hit one of her legs. That particular part of her body suddenly felt really heavy and caused her to lose her balance.

"Argh!" She cried in pain as she crashed to the ground. The sharp rocks cut her bare skin and torn her stockings. For a moment her vision blacked out and all she could feel was throbbing sensation on her entire body, accompanied by Tvo's echoing laughter. She blinked several times, trying to focus her scattered mind. After a while, it finally came to her what had just happened and how bad her current situation was. She looked up and saw Shiranee was already standing before her. Shoving the pain away, she tried to get up as quickly as she could… only to find that her left leg had partially turned into stone.

"Shoot!" She grimaced when she saw what her lower limbs had become.

"This is the end!" Tvo declared. "Finish her!"

Shiranee crossed its arms in front of its body and started charging its most powerful attack. Their surrounding became really bright due the intense light. Actor held her breath as the powerful beam was aimed at her. She gritted her teeth, bracing herself to get hit by the petrifying light.

Just as she thought that it would be impossible to avoid the attack, a small figure suddenly flew in between them and faced the monster. The small figure swiftly held out his hands, creating a shield of light just in time before Shiranee's beam attack reached him and deflected it.

"It's not over yet!" Pixel cried out when the two lights collided.

"Tch! You again!" Tvo clicked his tongue. He raised his arm. "Shiranee! Use more power and crush those two!"

"Nggh!" The small fairy mustered all of his strength to stand against the intense beam attack.

"Pixel!" Actor gasped as she saw Pixel's shield slowly got overwhelmed.

"I guess I'm still not strong enough, eh?" Pixel muttered under his breath. At this rate both he and Actor would get hit by the light and turned into stone. He turned at his partner and exhaled sharply as he saw how she still hadn't moved an inch. "How long do you plan to sit there like an idiot?"

"Wha-" Actor blinked in confusion and then scowled. "No, I was just a little surprised!"

"Well, you should get going then. My shield can't stand for too long." Pixel paused and eyed her petrified leg. "Can you move?"

She used her hands to support the weight and pushed her body up. "It's… not… a problem!" She stomped her right foot and tried to get up. She staggered a bit in the process but eventually managed to stand up right.

Soon Pixel's shield started to crack. He sensed that he might soon reach his limit. "The shield will break anytime soon! Get away from here as quick as you can!" Pixel said to his partner.

"What about you?" She asked in concern. The flash attack would come through once the shield was broken and as fast as Pixel could be, he wouldn't make it in time to avoid it unscathed. At worst he would turn into a stone statue like everyone else. She couldn't just leave him behind like that, could she?

"I'll be alright," he smiled reassuringly. "Just focus on what you have to do."

"But-"

"We have no time!" He cut in. "Listen, you're the only one who can purify the monster and as your partner, it's my job is to support you and protect you at any cost." He looked at her worried face and grinned. "Don't make that kind of face! It's gonna be alright! Everything will return to normal once you've defeated the enemy."

Actor bit her lips and nodded. "Alright."

"Good." Pixel said as he turned around and faced the light attack. "I'll release the shield in three seconds. Use this chance for counter attack. In three… two… one!"

As the countdown reached zero, Pixel's shield suddenly exploded, shattered the ground and raised dust screen around them. Nevertheless, Shiranee's light beam still managed to pierce through and completely engulfed the area where Pixel and Actor were standing.

Tvo laughed in triumphant as he saw the scene, completely oblivious to his opponents' little plan. He approached the battle field, expecting to see the Pretty Cure and her fairy as stone statues, only to find that Actor had gotten away.

"Where is the girl?" He looked around in panic. He wasn't able to see clearly due the dust screen and frantically waved his arms around to clear his surroundings. He looked up in the middle of the confusion and widened his eyes as finally found her high up in the air.

Actor gazed down at Tvo and Shiranee below her. She also caught a glimpse of Pixel lying on the ground and the sight pierced her heart. "I'm sorry, Pixel." She muttered softly as she bit her lips; it wouldn't have ended up like this if only she hadn't had let her guard down.

She shook her head and quickly shoved the bad thought away. No, she had no time to lament her mistake. She had to focus on purifying Masuko's misery. Actor closed her eyes and tried to sync her heart with Masuko's.

"I want to know more about Pretty Cure. I need to know more! More! Faster than anyone else! I want to be the first one to reveal her secret identity! I want to make an article that can surpass any other news!"

"So this is her misery?" It's indeed different from the ones she had encountered before. Actor's chest felt hot. The excitement, the passion, the thirst of knowledge… Masuko's emotions were burning and uncontainable… They were so strong that it made her hard to breathe.

How could it end up this way? Masuko looked like she was enjoying herself with all the investigation stuffs, so how brought up negative feelings? Was she forcing herself too much? Were there other reasons behind this? Was it because of the club? Was it because of her responsibility to deliver interesting topics?

Actor shook her head. She didn't know. She couldn't figure out what had turned the senior that way.

The only thing she knew right now was that she had to do something to cool Masuko down and stop her obsession toward Pretty Cure.

Actor gritted her teeth as she set her sight on Shiranee. She spun her body and dived right toward the monster. Using gravity and momentum of the rotation to strike a mortal blow, she delivered a strong drop kick right on the lens part and shattered it to pieces. Shiranee was pushed back due the strong impact and fell down.

Actor landed before the monster. She straightened her back, took a deep breath and crossed her arms.

"Let me get this straight, Senior Masuko… you're annoying!"

"Say what?" Masuko inside Shiranee was dumbstruck.

"Selfishly getting excited by something, selfishly forcing people to comply with you just to fulfill your own thirst, and now selfishly getting down because of it! And on the top of everything, you selfishly made me the object of your interest!" She shouted out loud as she placed her hand on the top of her chest. "Don't you know how troublesome it is to have someone prying into your private life? Having to fight monsters is tiring enough, why can't you give me some space to breathe?"

"Haaaa? What the hell are you saying?" Tvo exclaimed in disbelief as he heard her suddenly outburst. "Idiot, you're only making her misery worse!"

Actor clenched her fists. She figured this would be a risky choice, but since Masuko came after her with such a burning passion then she should as well return that feeling with all her might.

"But… But Pretty Cure is the most phenomenal topic at the moment." Shiranee wailed. "Everyone is looking forward to it. I have to answer their expectation!"

Everyone's expectation, huh? Excitement and expectation… perhaps if one mixed them together they could turn into a heavy burden. We couldn't enjoy things we love and eventually the burden made us afraid of failing.

"I see… so that's how it is." Actor muttered solemnly. The Cure put her hands at her sides and bowed down for several seconds. "Sorry if I'm being too rough, I know you must have your own circumstance too, but I feel like it was necessary to tell you how I really felt about this. You know what, Senior, I called you annoying and selfish, but I'm probably worse than you. To tell you the truth I got cold feet when I listened to your deduction because it was so spot on. For a moment I thought you really had found out my true identity. Right… that was probably why I desperately tried to counter everything you said. To think again, my words back them might have hurt your feelings and even caused you to end up like this." Actor looked up straight to Shiranee's dull eyes and pictured Masuko's face there. "I guess it just proves how good you're at this, Senior. I'm sure you'll be able to write great news even if it's not about Pretty Cure."

Tvo raised a brow. "How foolish! In the end you're only trying to make her stop chasing after you." He scorned.

"I won't deny that." Actor said with a straight face. "I can't just say empty lies like oh yes, you are welcome to spread news about my secret and turn my life upside down, right? It won't bring any good to either of us. Also, there should be other interesting topics she can cover."

The red haired man snorted. "Didn't you hear what she said earlier? People are expecting news about Pretty Cure's secret and they won't be satisfied until they get it!"

"Well, about that… Rather than me there's still something more worthy to cover and will actually be helpful for humanity… for example: INFINITY, WHO ARE THEY AND WHAT THEY ARE AFTER!" Actor pointed at Tvo.

Shiranee's eyes suddenly gleams when it heard Actor's line and turned at Tvo.

"What? What are you looking at- No, don't come over here!" Tvo shouted out as the monster suddenly got up and slowly walked toward him. "LISTEN TO MY ORDER YOU PIECE OF - NO, STOP!" Instead of obeying the order, Shiranee began to chase after him and even tried to use its broken lens to petrify him.

"I don't need a broken trash that won't obey my order!" Tvo got vexed with it and decided to retreat. He shot a hateful glare toward Actor before he teleported away.

Actor sighed then chuckled. "On second thought, it might be pretty dangerous so maybe it's not really a good idea. Well, whatever it is, everyone will surely love your articles." She reached out her hand toward Shiranee and said softly. "There's no need to worry, okay, Senior?"

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and focused her power. The surrounding air soothed as she chanted her purifying attack. "Precure… Dramatic Synchronize!" Light engulfed Shiranee; the monster shrunk and changed back into its original human form. The destroyed school ground around them and the petrified students turned back to their normal state. A small, firefly-like sparkle then left Masuko's body and quietly flew into Actor's CureVice.

"Actor!" A familiar voice called out. The said girl turned around as Pixel flew into her chest.

"Pixel! Oh, thanks God you're alright!" She said in relief as she hugged him.

Pixel puffed up his chest proudly and giggled. "Hehe. I knew you can do it. I always believe in you!"

"Really, you…" She smiled wryly.

A slight movement then caught their eyes and they saw Masuko had started waking up. The latter sat up quietly and looked around in a daze.

"Huh? What happened?" Masuko mumbled. She couldn't recall how she got there and why she had been lying on the ground. The sight of other students and teachers collapsing around her only made her more confused.

Actor and Pixel exchanged look. Now that Masuko had woken up, it was high time for them to leave. "There was a monster attack just now, but it's all over. It should be alright now; the others should be waking up in a few minutes." She explained briefly, then turned on her heels and started walking away. "Farewell then."

Masuko stared blankly at Actor's back for a moment then widened her eyes as it suddenly came to her that the girl before her was the Pretty Cure. "WAIT!" She exclaimed, reaching out toward Actor. "I have tons of questions for you, Ms. Pretty Cure! Who are you and what are you fighting for? Where did those monsters come from?"

Actor halted and looked over her shoulder. She glanced at Masuko who was still sitting on the ground, then raised her index finger to her lips, forming shh… gesture and replied quietly. "No comment."

Masuko was at a loss of words after hearing the short reply. She clutched her chest as she watched Actor disappearing from her sight.

She should be feeling down for missing her only chance to interview the Cure, but somehow it wasn't as bad as she had thought it would have been.

Why was that?

It was probably because something new had sparked in her heart.


It had been several days since that incident. So far Reina hadn't heard anything from Masuko herself. The talk they had during the purification should have affected Masuko's heart in some way, but there was no telling whether the latter would drop the investigation about the Pretty Cure or not. She also noticed that Aya had been regularly visiting the newspaper club, but only God would know what those two were up to.

Reina fiddled with her phone as she leaned over one of the windows along the school hallway. She sighed as refresh the main page of school's microsite.

"You should have just asked Aya about it." Pixel's voice rang through the earphones as his avatar popped out on the screen. He sat at the corner of the page and read through last week's articles on bulletin board. "It's a lot easier and you wouldn't need to waste so much time waiting for a new article to come out."

"If possible I want to stay away from that club as much as possible. It would be bad if Aya mistook my intention and thought that I was interested in it." Reina replied.

"Geez, you're just too stubborn." Pixel muttered softly as he shook his head. He knew that the real reason was probably because she was just too shy to ask and couldn't find the right moment to bring it up casually. "Anyway, let's just hope Masuko Misa won't put herself in any more danger." He added.

Reina stared at the phone screen. According to the schedule, the bulletin board should be updated any time.

Any time now…

PING!

A new notification popped out, indicating that the board had just been updated.

Both Reina and Pixel quickly opened the freshly published article. The headline was about the recent monster attacks around the school. Well, that was to be expected remembering how Infinity had attacked the students several times within a single months. There had been talks about that here and there and it was no way the newspaper club would not cover about it.

Reina gulped as she proceeded to read the content. The article was surprisingly compact and to the point. It summarized up three incidents that had happened at the school. The identity of the perpetrators was still unknown and it was still a mystery how they were able to turn people into monsters. The names of the victims were classified, but it was stated that they were safe and uninjured. Despite the monsters' rampage, the school building miraculously suffered no damage from it and the class would run normally. It was also mentioned that there was a mysterious person called Pretty Cure who helped defeating the monsters, but there was no further information written about her.

"That's it?" Reina said in disbelief.

"There are also some interviews with the teachers and headmaster regarding the incidents but mostly they're only talking about students' safety." Pixel said as he scrolled down the page. "Well, isn't this good? Your secret should be safe now."

"I guess you're right." Reina exhaled. She felt relieved now; it was as if a weight had been lift from her back. Now she could continue living her life and fight as Pretty Cure without having to worry Masuko would be hiding behind the bushes recording her fight.

"Wait, there's something at the bottom." Pixel noticed that there was a link attached at the very bottom of the articles. "It says 'If you want to know more or have any information regarding the recent attacks in the town, please visit here.' What is this? A method to collect information?" The fairy tilted his head and clicked the link. The link led them to a new, separated page from the school site.

"What is it? The newspaper club's blog?" Reina asked curiously. She then widened her eyes when she read the blog's title:

[PRETTY CURE SUPPORT CLUB]

"What? What is this?"

"It is exactly what it says!"

A new person suddenly stood behind Reina, almost giving the girl a mini heart attack. Reina jumped in surprised and hurriedly turned around.

"S- Senior Masuko?" Reina was flabbergasted to find the familiar face.

The said girl smiled widely, then suddenly snatched Reina's hand and dragged her to the clubroom on the third floor. Masuko closed the door behind them and pushed Reina to sit next to Aya, who apparently had been waiting for their arrival in the clubroom. Masuko then walked across the room and stood next to the PC. The Pretty Cure Support Club Homepage was shown on the screen.

"Well then, where should I start?" Masuko said cheerfully as she clapped her hands.

Reina deadpanned. "What exactly is going-"

"Yes, yes, about the Pretty Cure Support Club," Masuko placed her hand on the top of the monitor. "It'll be a great place where everyone can post news about Pretty Cure sighting. It covers not only around the school but also the whole town! With this, everyone will know about her."

Reina furrowed her brows. Her head started throbbing hearing Masuko's explanation. Let alone dropping the Pretty Cure topic, that girl's obsession toward it actually got worse.

"Don't get me wrong. It's not like I'm trying to pry into her life." Masuko added, much to Reina's surprised. Reina looked up and noticed how Masuko's expression somehow softened. Masuko then continued. "I've been thinking about this lately. Pretty Cure is indeed an enigma. I just can't help wanting to know more about her; who she is and what she is fighting for. However, I figured that I was wrong. Say, even if I'm able to find out about it, will it actually do any good? It's not like it'll help us solving the problem regarding the monster attacks. If any, it might end up causing trouble for her. She's been fighting for us so I think I shouldn't do something that would bring her down. Instead, I should use whatever I got to help her!"

"… and that's this blog?" Reina inquired.

Masuko placed her hand on her chest. "I'm excelled at gathering information. From my experience as a reporter, I've learnt that vast knowledge can become strength too. With everyone's contribution, we're not only able to spread the news to keep people well informed regarding the incidents around the town, we might even able to pick up clues about the enemies. We might not be able to fight like a Pretty Cure, but with this, at least we can still help for her in her fight against the enemy of humanity."

Aya then spoke up. "I share Senior's sentiment. Um, I don't know if I can be any help or but I'll try my best! I've always felt like I'm lacking of something and that was probably why I was attacked some time ago. I want to change and I feel like I might be able to become stronger if I'm able to do this."

"That's the spirit!" Masuko praised.

Reina listened to the two girls in amazement. She looked down and said softly. "…I see. I guess it's not a bad thing."

"I'm glad you understand!" Masuko beamed. She then walked around Reina and placed her hands on the latter's shoulders. "Really, I might make it sound easy but it actually requires a lot of work and needs everyone's contribution to realize."

Reina warily raised an eyebrow. "What are you implying-"

"Therefore I'd like to request your assistance in this!" Masuko tightened her grasps; her hands felt like a hawk's talon clutching strongly onto its prey. "I heard from Inuma you've been running a pretty successful blog by yourself, Usami. It's such a nice coincidence that we're in need of a good moderator for our site."

"That's…" Reina grimaced and turned at Aya.

"I'm truly sorry! It just kinda slipped out." Aya hurriedly apologized as she put her hands together in front of her face. "Uh, oh, but I'd be really reassuring to have you around… Uh, I'm sorry; I guess it's just too much to ask."

"Now, now… I've also researched a bit about you, Usami Reina. You are not part of any club or committee and it's not like you are engaged in any activity outside school. You ought to have a lot of free time to spare." Masuko added as her grips became even harder. Reina couldn't see her face but she definitely had this scary wide smile plastered on her face.

Reina scowled. Behind her was this pushover senior with strong talons digging into her shoulders; before her was a puppy-like girl with a pair of teary eyes that attacked her with strong guilt. These two are way deadlier than any monsters she had faced before. Putting up any fight against these two would be meaningless.

"Fine…" Reina sighed in defeat.

"Really?" Aya beamed. "Thank you, Reina! Let's do our best!"

Masuko grinned ear to ear. She released Reina and hit the latter on the back. "I'm counting on you, new member!"

Reina looked away wearily. Just what kind of situation she had gotten herself into?


TFW you just wanna go home and sleep...

Small quiz! De-de-de-den! How many times had Reina sighed in this chapter?

Last but not least, thank you for reading. I hope you like it. How was Cure Actor's adventure this time? What do you think of Masuko and the club? Please rate and review! Concrits and correction are always welcome!

See you!