Northern Cross Pretty Cure episode 3
Opening song: Onegai Precure, Northern † Cross!
999
Almost as soon as Cure Deneb had half collapsed against the school's wall, the swan she clutched gave a surprised cry and struggled against her grasp.
"Deneb, another Cure appeared! I can sense it!" Deneb felt a sense of alarm as she let Zeta go, and he jumped to the ground next to her.
"What? Where?"
"The front of the school! They must be fighting Arbo!" Zeta cried excitedly.
"Then they're in trouble!" Deneb shouted as adrenaline surged into her system again, and she launched herself off the ground, towards the combatants. Rounding the corner, she could see two blurs on a collision course. Cure Deneb aimed herself at the purple blur; the one that was clearly not Arbo. Just in time did she reach the purple figure, and Deneb tackled the other Cure out of the air. The two of them tumbled in the dust and rocks before coming to a stop and separating.
"Go! It's too dangerous!" Deneb shouted over her shoulder while kneeling on the ground and shielding the other Cure with her body. When she did not hear retreating footsteps, Cure Deneb turned around. The other Cure was also a girl, clad in a tight top and long, loosely flowing skirt which were colored with the same shades of purple as her own outfit, except that the fringe was a sapphire yellow as opposed to her light blue. She had an incredulous expression on her face.
"What the hell was that for?" the other Cure shouted, angrily.
Before Cure Deneb could answer, a high pitched exclamation came from to their side.
"Pai?" Zeta was flying towards the iridescent swan, who in turn was, approaching the two Cures. Pai landed, and Zeta did the same right next to him. "What's going on?"
"Zeta!"
"Are you idiots done?" Everyone turned towards Arbo, who was looking very cross at this disruption.
"Cure Deneb, you have to work together to defeat him!" Zeta urged. Deneb looked at the other Cure, who stood up and brushed herself off. She still looked mad, but said, "Well, let's go!" Deneb nodded and stood up, too, then she followed the other Cure as she charged the enemy again.
As they closed in on a ready Arbo, Deneb threw a kick, but retracted it for being too close to her new companion, which caused her to have to quickly dodge a punch from the Chaos Dragon. The other Cure managed to throw some of her own punches at Arbo, but he deflected them all easily. Deneb tried another kick, which Arbo and the other Cure both dodged.
"Watch it!" the other Cure said.
"Konton!"
A huge foot slammed into Cure Deneb's back, punting her over the other two fighters. More dust flew up as she landed ungracefully and skidded in the dirt. When she looked up, grimacing in pain and exhaustion, she saw the other Cure trying to defend from two attackers at once. Deneb raced back to the fight and, passing on the other Cure's left, punched out at the Konton, but as she did, her partner was already in the process of winding up and Deneb collided with her fist, unbalancing them both.
The second Cure screamed in frustration and was taken out by a roundhouse kick from the Chaos Dragon.
"Cure Deneb! Cure Albireo! Retreat! Let's regroup!" Zeta shouted from the sidelines. Albireo scrambled to her feet and rushed to the two swans, holding her side, while Deneb was helped over by another blow from the Konton. She got up slowly, but Arbo and the Konton made no move to approach.
"You have to work together! You can't fight your own battles out there!" Zeta reprimanded the two Cures, who were watching their opponents on the other side of the courtyard silently. Arbo said something they could not hear, and the Konton stomped off to attend to the collection of Chaos Energy.
"Ok," Cure Albireo said, after a moment. "Cure Deneb?" Deneb turned to look at her. "I'll attack him head on, while you try to get around his back." Albireo met her gaze. Subconsciously, Deneb felt better about having orders to obey and she nodded. Arbo had begun walking towards them while they spoke, and after returning Deneb's nod, Albireo rushed out to meet him.
Albireo was quick, but she had trouble avoiding Arbo's equally fast blows so was forced onto the defensive. Deneb's attempt to sneak around behind Arbo was noticed by both Albireo and Arbo, and Arbo turned as he attacked, trying to keep both Cures in his sight.
"How am I supposed to attack?" Deneb said aloud. Even though she had closed in on the Chaos Dragon and managed to get behind him, Arbo continuously flipped his tail back and forth, preventing her from getting in close. When Arbo turned and slipped Deneb a smug grin, Albireo launched herself at him, thinking she had an opening, but it had been a feint. He had expected the move, batted her hand out of the way, and landed a strong punch to her gut, knocking her backwards and to the ground.
Arbo chuckled as he turned towards Cure Deneb. "This is pathetic! You could train for a thousand years and you still wouldn't be able to match my strength!" Scowling, Deneb wiped a bead of sweat off her forehead and stepped backwards. Behind Arbo, she could see Albireo slowing picking herself off the ground. Arbo advanced on her, but Deneb continued to back off until Albireo had stood completely up, then they both charged. Deneb dodged right as Albireo approached, avoiding Arbo's punch and throwing her own. Surprisingly, her fist impacted the side of his head, causing it to rock back slightly. Arbo turned towards her slowly, with an expression that mixed confusion, disbelief and annoyance on his face. Deneb ducked right again into a crouch, so she was 180 degrees to where she started. Arbo's gaze followed her all the way, preventing him from seeing Cure Albireo heading his way. Albireo hurdled Cure Deneb and sunk her fist into his face. A roar of pain escaped Arbo's throat as he reeled backwards from the blow, but was cut short as both of Deneb's fists slammed into his stomach, sending the Chaos Dragon flying into the school's wall, creating a cloud of dust as old plaster shattered and cinder blocks cracked under the force of the impact.
"Uh, we should do more of that," Deneb said, impressed by her own power, while the two swans cheered them on from the sidelines.
"Yeah! Let's take him!" Albireo started to run towards where Arbo had landed, but Deneb stopped her.
"Wait!" Albireo skidded to a halt and looked at her fellow Cure. "There's too much dust. We can't see him." Her warning proved valuable, as with another roar, this time full of rage, Arbo came shooting out of the dust cloud, eyes blazing red. "Take that side!" Deneb yelled, and they split up quickly enough that Arbo's fist only displaced air.
Rushing back in, Cures Deneb and Albireo attacked from opposite sides with punches and kicks, keeping pace with Arbo's movements so that he remained in the middle. The enraged Chaos Dragon stopped most of their attacks, but was unable to do anything else since his attention was split between them. When he turned to face Albireo, instead of attacking, Deneb shouted "Albireo!" grabbed a hold of Arbo's arm with both of her own and hugged it tightly to her body. Predictably, Arbo looked back to Deneb and raised his other hand for a devastating punch, but Cure Albireo planted a roundhouse kick directly into his midsection, knocking the wind out of him and sending spittle flying from his mouth. As he doubled over, Arbo saw Deneb set her feet and wind up, then send a punch squarely into the side of his head, knocking him off his feet again.
The two Cures stood there breathing heavily, and watched Arbo roll to a stop in the dust and gravel. Their companion swans joined them, flapping quietly down to the ground near their feet.
"I knew you could do it!" Zeta cheered.
"I don't think it's over yet, Zeta," Cure Deneb said.
"Don't forget about that other dragon thing," agreed Cure Albireo.
As if on cue, Arbo summoned the Konton to him. The enormous dragon took its place at Arbo's side, opposite the two battered, dirty, and bruised Cures.
"Animals use their tail to balance," Albireo said, staring down the enemy. "If we can unbalance either of them, we'll get an advantage."
"I couldn't get to Arbo's tail before," Deneb replied. "His is too quick, but the Konton just swings it around." Looking determinedly at Albireo, Deneb realised for the first time, that despite the exertion and pain, her fear had diminished to only a fraction of what it had been before the fight began. "I'll grab its tail."
Albireo stared hard at the other Cure, taking stock of what she was planning. "Ok. Call for me when you have it. I'll keep Arbo busy 'til then." Deneb turned to go. "Good luck."
Deneb paused, then said, "Thanks, you, too." And with that, the two Cures jumped back into the fight.
The Konton might have been smiling as it watched Cure Deneb running directly at it, but with a mouth like that, it was difficult to tell. As she did so, an idea formed in Deneb's head. "It's so cliché, it might work," she thought aloud.
Deneb reigned up as she reached the Konton, but then immediately broke out into a sprint, throwing off the Konton's aim enough to cause its punch to miss. Continuing on, she went for the large opening between its legs. The Konton kicked out, but at that close range, Deneb dodged easily and darted behind it. She jumped up, grabbed the tail with both hands and yanked down on it. The unexpected force she applied caused the Konton to tip backwards and brought a smile to Deneb's face.
"Albireo!"
Immediately, Cure Albireo turned away from Arbo and dashed towards the Konton.
"What?" Arbo exclaimed.
Albireo leapt from a distance, which, if she were not in Cure form, would have been completely unreasonable, but she was, and her momentum carried her to her target. A fierce scream left her mouth as she approached, fist first, and hit the scaly muzzle of the beast with a powerful punch, sending it tumbling directly over Deneb's head. Deneb yelped and let go of its tail, falling to the ground in the process.
Without any prompting or foreknowledge, Cure Albireo threw her hands above her head and shouted.
999
"Precure Albireo Twin Parallel Laser!"
As she did, she brought her arms down in front of her, hands extended in finger guns. Two beams of yellow light shot out from them, pierced the falling Konton and burned the ground where they touched.
999
"Konton!" As the Konton cried out its name, its entire body began to glow until it was entirely white, at which point, it violently burst into a grey red smoke.
Upon seeing the destruction rained down by this Cure, Arbo turned and fled, disappearing into the shadow of the school.
Cure Albireo landed lightly on her feet and looked around, amazed as the device which had been used to execute the task of collecting Chaos Energy evaporated into the same grey red smoke released by the Konton.
Meanwhile, Cure Deneb unwrapped her arms from around her head and peered out from between them. She laid curled up in a ball on her back in the dirt, almost directly under where the Konton had exploded but moments prior. Rolling over and getting to her hands and knees, she watched in surprise as the deep gash in the ground from Albireo's attack vanished. Albireo herself stood not far from her, still staring in disbelief. Deneb got up and walked over, brushing herself off. She was partially of a mind to tell Albireo off for using her attack so close to where she had fallen, but the excitement and relief brought on by their victory overwhelmed those thoughts and she did not comment. The two Cures and their mascots gathered silently.
"See, I knew you could do it!" said Zeta.
"We did it," Albireo said, still amazed. Pai flapped his little wings up to her and she caught him in her arms.
"Woo hoo!" he cried.
Cure Deneb shushed him. She was looking towards the school, so everyone followed her gaze. The group of students and teachers and students who had been trapped by the entrance had seemingly fallen asleep, but were now stirring.
"Let's get out of here," Deneb said, looking anxious.
"Wait, I want to look for my brother," Albireo replied.
Deneb gestured at her outfit. "Like that?" The purple and yellow outfit Albireo wore was certainly not the one she came to school in.
"Ok, good point," she said, hurriedly. "But where do we go?"
Deneb opened her arms for Zeta, who flew into the embrace. "There," she said, and started running towards the wall. With their Cure powers, they easily leapt over top of it and landed safely on the ground below. To the east of the school were houses, but also plenty of greenery. Deneb quickly slipped behind a group of bushes and crouched down, followed closely by Albireo. The ground was littered with cigarette butts and other trash, so they did not set the swans down.
"Zeta, how do we get back to normal?" Deneb asked.
"Well that's simple, really. Just will it!"
"Just will it?"
"Yes, that's right."
Deneb looked down in annoyance. "That doesn't mean anything to me. Explain it further."
Zeta shrugged his shoulders. "That's really all there is. All you have to do to revert is want that to happen. Just think about being back to normal."
Cures Deneb and Albireo exchanged a doubtful glance, but gave it a try anyway. The two of them closed their eyes and focused on their normal lives and sure enough, they felt something happening. When they opened their eyes up again, Cure Deneb and Cure Albireo had been replaced with two ordinary middle school girls who examined themselves, then appraised the other. Teiko didn't remember having seen this girl before; they certainly were not in the same class. But then again, there were some hundred kids at Mizuwa, so Teiko did not feel bad. Natsuko, too, failed to recognize her new partner, but skipped right to introductions.
"I'm Natsuko Akiyama, class 2-4. It's nice to meet you."
A motor started somewhere nearby followed by a grinding, squealing sound that they knew to be the school's gate opening.
"This is Pai," Natsuko continued.
"Hey," said Pai, raising a wing in greeting.
"My name is Teiko Hakucho and I'm in class 2-2. This is Zeta."
"Let's work hard together," Zeta said.
"I think we should go back inside now," Teiko said while glancing nervously towards the gate. Natsuko just nodded. Together, after checking that no one was around, they made their way quickly to the gate and peered around the corner. The courtyard was full of students now, just milling about aimlessly. Many had spacy looks on their faces, so Teiko and Natsuko judged that they could slip back in unnoticed, which they did, and quickly blended in with the aimless students. All around them, there were murmurs of confusion and disorientation, as well as someone crying in the distance, but they kept going; Natsuko's head swinging back and forth, scanning the crowd for any sign of Shun. The loudspeaker crackled as they neared the school building.
"Attention students. Please return to your classrooms for attendance to be taken, then collect your belongings and return home safely. All clubs and after school activities are cancelled. If you are in need of assistance, please come to the principal's office. Thank you."
The two girls had stopped to listen to the announcement and once it was finished, Natsuko turned to Teiko. "I really want to find my brother, but can we meet at the front gate?" she said, visibly anxious. "I think we should talk."
Teiko nodded. "Ok."
"Thanks, I'll see you soon," Natsuko said, and took off at a run with Pai still cradled in her arms. Left behind with her own swan, Teiko walked over to the side of the building where she had dropped her bag before the fight and retrieved it. The bag's contents were undisturbed and Teiko opened it for Zeta to jump into. Bag in hand, Teiko reentered the building through the front door (since the side door by which she had exited did not have a handle on the outside), and made her way back to her second-floor classroom. Students were beginning to shake off the lethargy of having recently awoken from a strange sleep, but the hallways were still subdued and lacked the clamour of a normal school day. Her classmates who hadn't yet left school stood around awkwardly, but it was not long before the teacher returned and called roll. They were dismissed, and after double checking that she had what she needed, Teiko left the building to wait at the gate.
999
Natsuko found Shun in the front entryway. He was standing near the staircase, as if he had just come down instead of going up, like the rest of the student body above first year was doing. She practically tossed Pai aside and threw her arms around her brother's neck while tears of joy and relief trickled down her cheeks.
"I'm so glad you're safe!"
Shun hugged her back. "Yeah, I'm ok. I was worried about you, too," he said, in a sad tone.
Natsuko let go and looked up; Shun's eyes were clear, alert and locked on her own. Her smile drooped.
"They said we have to go back to class," he said, turning away from her ever so slightly. An outside observer would not have noticed, but Natsuko heard what was said. She bent over to pick Pai up off the floor where, to his credit and annoyance, he remained still enough to pass as a stuffed animal and not draw attention. Together, the siblings mounted the stairs and ascended to the second story. As they reached the landing, however, Natsuko stopped.
"I forgot my bag!" she exclaimed, bringing her hand to her mouth.
"Where is it?" Shun asked.
"Um, it's- follow me." Natsuko lead her brother through the bleary-eyed mass of students and down the side staircase. "Hold this," she said as she stepped through the building's exit. Shun put his hand out to prevent the door from closing. Natsuko walked a few steps out into the now undamaged and empty courtyard to retrieve her bag. As she rose with it in one hand and Pai in the other, she heard the door click shut behind her. When she turned, Shun stood outside, too. "Shun," she said, crossly.
"I saw what happened."
The bag fell back to the ground, but Natsuko clutched Pai closer, which was admittedly uncomfortably for him.
"Why didn't you tell me you were in trouble?" Shun continued. Natsuko could feel the blood drain from her face. "I watched the whole thing. What was that?"
Natsuko could not answer him, but no longer because she did not want to, but because she herself did not know. When she failed to speak, Shun tsked and turned away with a scowl. At that gesture, Natsuko's worry transformed into anger.
"I'm not hiding it anymore, Shun," she said angrily. "I'm going home." Shun turned back towards her, taken aback, while Natsuko turned towards the front if the school. "Come with me," she demanded, as she began walking. Shun followed.
The trek back to their classroom was silent and tense, during which, Natsuko felt a whole array of emotions. After their teacher had called the last name on the class roster, Natsuko walked out decisively, knowing her brother would be close behind. The twins reciprocated emotionally and in the rare events where they were at odds, anger could flick between them instantly.
999
Finally, as the number of students filtering out of the building had diminished and most were already on their way home, Teiko caught sight of Natsuko walking with someone who looked remarkably similar to her, which must have been her brother. As they approached, Teiko could see that the other girl was mad, and when she got close enough, looked sideways at Teiko and shook her head. Teiko just stared at the pair, who passed without even slowing down, jaw falling open as they grew smaller the further away they got.
"What?" Teiko said to herself. Zeta poked a cautious head out of the bag to see what Teiko was inquiring about, and saw the Akiyama children walking down the sidewalk.
"Where are they going?"
"That's what I'd like to know," Teiko huffed. "She's the one who asked me to stay. Fine." Adjusting the bag on her shoulder, Teiko took off towards her own home.
"Teiko," Zeta said, but did not immediately follow it up.
"Teiko," he repeated. "You did a good job today." She half smiled, still upset by the snub. Zeta crawled all the way out of the bag and into the arm Teiko offered. "I'm glad the two of you were able to work together."
Teiko stopped suddenly, turned on the bird and said, "Did you see that laser thing she did? She almost hit me!" then continued walking.
"Teamwork will be important in stopping the Chaos Dragons when they come back."
Teiko paused again. Once they got home, there would be no privacy for them to talk, and they needed to talk. Her mother would be waiting for her, so she couldn't stay out long, so she adjusted the route home in her head to give them more time together before setting off again.
"I'm confused, Zeta. You said I had to help you save Earth from the Chaos Dragons, but then this other Cure shows up. I thought I would be doing this by myself."
"I never said you'd be alone."
"But you never mentioned other Cures, either. How many are there?"
Zeta's expressions became very serious. "That's a good question."
"So what, ten? Twenty? You don't know?"
"I don't know."
Teiko stopped and looked at the swan. "How do you not know? How did you get sent here without knowing how many Cures there are? Isn't that, like, something that would be important to your mission?"
Zeta returned her gaze. "It's a good question, because the answer has always been one." Teiko looked puzzled and nervous at this news. "Historically, only one Cygnet has been sent to each world to help protect it from the Chaos Dragons. One Cygnet, one hero. But the Cygnus has sent two of us to Earth. Pai was my classmate. This must mean that it is very important to protect the Earth. And if Earth needs double the protection, the Chaos Dragons must have placed a high value upon it. There may be something here that the Chaos Dragons are anxious to get a hold of." Teiko adjusted her glasses, but her it was her eyes that were out of focus. "I would not be surprised if there were more than one Chaos Dragon here."
Teiko swallowed and closed her eyes. Her hands were getting cold in the shade, but she could not bring herself to move. She was suddenly weary.
"Sorry, Teiko, I didn't mean to worry you."
After a few quiet breaths, she felt like she could move again. "No, it's not your fault," she told Zeta.
"I was saying that teamwork was important earlier because that's what I was thinking."
"I know we have to work together," Teiko said, continuing on her way home. "I- I just don't know about her."
"Maybe there was a reason she couldn't meet with you today," Zeta offered. "She did find her brother, after all."
"Yeah, but she asked me to wait, then went to find him."
"Teiko, try not to dismiss her so quickly," Zeta said.
Teiko let out a long sigh. "It's not like I'm against her. I just don't know. Besides, I don't really have a choice, do I?" Zeta was suddenly jolted when Teiko's body shuddered from the cold, so he snuggled up against her, trying to share as much warmth with her as he could offer. They turned a corner and were in the sunlight again. The Hakucho apartment was not much farther from here, and the rest of their trip was made in silence. Up two flights of stairs and down to the end of the exterior hallway, Teiko opened the door to her family's small apartment.
"I'm home," she said, closing the door behind her and taking off her shoes.
"Welcome back," Akiko said from the kotatsu. Her mother looked over from her laptop and leaned back. "You took your stuffed animal to school with you?"
A shock ran through Teiko's body and she could feel her heart beating fast. "Haha, yeah, I don't know, just felt like it," she said. Akiko closed the laptop and did not pursue the topic any further.
"There was something on the news just a minute ago about your school." Another shock. "Is everything ok? They didn't give any details."
Teiko wasn't sure if she was blushing or blanching. "Everyone's ok. There was some kind of thing; something happened, but I don't know what it was."
"Well, I'm glad everyone is ok," her mother said, rising. "I suppose I should start thinking about dinner." She walked into the kitchen.
While watching her mother, Teiko wondered if she should leave Zeta in her room, where Harumi most certainly was, or if she should just keep him with her. To show she had nothing to fear from the rest of her family noticing his presence, she decided the later.
"Mom, can I play video games?"
"Yes. What do you have for homework? Are you all caught up from your absence the other day?" Akiko said from the kitchen, putting on an apron.
Teiko set her bag down just inside the living room space, walked over to the kotatsu and placed Zeta next to it, then turned on the TV and her video game console while answering, "Yes, I got all of that done. I don't have much. Just a few things." The Lambert Tactics: FiNAL NiNE logo appeared on the TV and she loaded her save file before logging into the server. She walked back with the NiNE-AXiS controller in and scooted under the kotatsu. Instantly, her body relaxed from the rush of heat on her bare legs and Teiko took a moment to savor the feeling before starting the game.
Teiko selected her seven-character party and placed them on one side of a gridded arena. A short dialog between the opposing sides progressed, then they clashed. Teiko maneuvered her units around the arena as their turns arose and engaged the enemy. Her characters attacked with weapons and spells, and soon the challengers fell one by one until their entire team had been eliminated. Teiko smiled as the opposing commander admitted defeat and grudgingly praised her ability. Her team was awarded spoils; money, experience and treasure; then the game returned to the menu.
Zeta noticed that he had been staring, beak hanging wide open, the whole time. Teiko began another match with someone from South Korea and proceeded to dismantle their team with ease as well. Her swan companion watched in amazement and once the game returned to the menu again, he saw Teiko's rank.
"What's S+ mean?" he asked, causing Teiko to fumble the controller and grab his beak.
"Oops, I forgot to turn the sound down..." she said aloud in a low voice, for the benefit of her mother, still in the kitchen. Akiko had paid no attention anyway.
After several more victories, only one of which was close, Harumi, having completed her homework, joined Teiko and watched her sister play in between drawings. Later, their mother served dinner, and afterward, placed two freshly made portions into the refrigerator.
The rest of the evening went as normal: Teiko worked on her homework, Ayumi returned home from cram school, followed by their father, just before bed.
Teiko felt good. She had not played Lambert Tactics since she had met Zeta. The familiar and immersion of it served to help wipe the day's unpleasant events away. She had not forgotten, but they seemed so much longer ago. That night, after a hot bath and snuggled into bed with her stuffed animals and Zeta, Teiko Hakucho slept like a rock.
999
Natsuko and Shun arrived back home not much later than they would normally have, if Natsuko had actually had her class representative duties. The living room was vacant, but the tv was playing a news report about the incident at Mizuwa; something about mass teen fainting. They greeted their mother from the other room and climbed the stairs. At the top, Natsuko opened the opened the door and motioned Shun inside, then closed it behind them.
"What did you see?" she demanded. Shun walked over and sat in the beanbag chair.
"I was running around looking for you and stopped at the north end of the hall. You were outside, then there was this flash and you were wearing some strange purple clothes, then you and someone else fought some dragon in front of the school." Shun shook his head and pushed his hair back with one hand. "That sounds so crazy."
"Did it look like I was in trouble?" Natsuko asked.
"You were moving so fast. I don't really know what all happened, but yeah, I mean, a dragon?"
"We're all in trouble!" Natsuko snapped, meaner than she had intended. "Sorry. I- there's just so much." She opened her bag and looked in. "Pai, would you mind explaining?"
"Is that a good idea?" Came an uncertain voice from inside the bag. Shun was confused.
"It doesn't matter. He already knows. He saw it, didn't you hear that?"
Reluctantly, Pai crawled out of Natsuko's school bag and turned to look at Shun. "Hey, that's my seat."
Shun's mouth dropped open at the sight of the talking bird. Pai jumped and flew down to the floor next to the chair and looked at Shun expectantly.
Shun continued to gape for another moment, before rising with an "O- ok," and sitting on the floor. Pai claimed his rightful throne and began to explain the situation to the bewildered boy.
Once he had laid out all the details of the Cygnus, cygnets, Cures, Chaos Dragons, the two Chaos Dragons who were on Earth, Kontons, and Chaos Energy, Pai sat back and asked, "Any questions?"
Shun, who had regained his composure and accepted this strange, new reality, closed his eyes and thought. When he opened them, he turned to Natsuko, who was sitting on her bed. "So you want me to stay out of this?"
Natsuko's head drooped and lolled to one side. "No," she said softly. "I need you to support me." She looked back to her brother. "You think it hurt when I was hiding this from you? How do you think I felt while hiding it? I knew you'd find out; we've never kept secrets from each other. But I wanted to keep you safe. When that black dragon said it didn't matter if you knew, because we were all in the same danger, I was relieved, but also more worried. At least I didn't have to keep it a secret anymore." Natsuko gave a small, sad smile. "I may need to ask you to help me with things. Regular life is going to go on while this is happening. I, I'm not the best student, but I need to get good grades to stay in dance. I'm not saying to cheat!" she added hastily. "But I don't know what I'll have to do. If I'll have to leave school to go fight these things, or skip dance. And mom can't know about this."
Shun nodded, but couldn't keep the smile from his face. "I'll help you, don't worry. That's what big brothers are for!"
"You're not my big brother," Natsuko said flatly.
Shun stood up en pointe. "Now I am!"
Natsuko threw a pillow at him.
Later, they had dinner with their parents, neither of which had heard of the events at Mizuwa earlier in the day. Shun took a proactive approach and told them about it, but explained that they didn't know the details and it hadn't affected them, to keep Fuyumi from worrying over him and his sister.
In the evening, Shun did his best to help explain the math homework to Natsuko before they retired to their respective rooms and prepared to sleep.
999
School was open the next day, since the administration could not determine that whatever happened yesterday caused any temporary or lasting damage, or if it even happened at all. A strange energy could be felt among the student population, though, and wild rumors could be heard in the halls.
"Ghosts!"
"Government mind control!"
"Aliens!" "..."
"The school is cursed!"
"Angels!"
"What are you talking about? Nothing happened."
Between classes, Teiko waded through the chatting students clogging the hallway. Focus seemed to be non-existent today, and even some of the teachers were still a little fog-headed. When her classmates asked her opinion of the mystery from the day before, Teiko just laughed nervously and said she didn't know, although that alien theory hit a little too close to home. Before she made it to the bathroom, a familiar figure stopped her.
"Here," Natsuko handed Teiko a small, folded slip of paper. "Message me." She was gone just as quickly as she arrived, leaving Teiko to stare after her. Some girls nearby who saw the exchange started talking excitedly among themselves. Teiko overheard their comments, and her face turned bright red, then she hurried along.
Safely in the privacy of a stall, Teiko unfolded the note. As expected, there was a phone number written in neat, lilac colored letters. Whether to do as she was bidden or not weighed at the front of her mind and for some time, she stared at the paper, unmoving, lost in thought.
That ended when the bell signaled the beginning of the next class. Teiko groaned aloud; she had spent the whole break staring into space and did not even use the toilet. Knowing she'd have to hold it for another hour, Teiko hurried back to class 2-2 and spent the next class uncomfortable.
999
Natsuko's phone chimed. She put her bento down on the bench next to her and fished it out, flipped it open and read the message.
[What's your name again?]
"Ugh, she didn't even remember my name?" she said, typing a reply.
"Who?" Shun asked.
"Uh, the other girl."
[my name is natsuko akiyama sry bout b4 meet aftr school?]
"The other Cure?"
"Yeah."
"Who is it?"
Natsuko debated internally for a moment, before saying, "I don't know if I should tell you. Not because I don't know, because I do know, but because I don't know if she'd want you knowing."
"I'll find out sooner or later, if this goes on for a while."
[Ok. Where?]
Natsuko could not argue with that, and knew he meant no harm with the comment, so she said, "I know, but I want to at least ask her first."
[gate again? ^^;]
Shun agreed to that with a nod. "Meeting her later?"
[Ok. I'll be there.]
"Yeah." Natsuko closed her phone. She was about to ask Shun to leave for dance before her, so he would not see Teiko, because then he could recognize her later, but realized it was basically impossible to keep her identity a secret. Even if Shun did not see her himself, plenty of others probably would and any one of them could inquire of Shun or tell him outright about Teiko. "If you see us, would you not say anything today?"
"Sure. I'll keep a secret." Shun grinned.
"Thanks." Natsuko exchanged the phone for her bento and continued eating.
999
Eyecatcher A: Chibi Teiko in a kindergarten rain outfit walks in the rain, followed by a number of colorful cygnets. They splash through a puddle.